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Stress & Over Eating

Stress does not just influence your emotional well-being, but also your physical well-being. Many people self-medicate with food during times of high stress. These cravings can bring on weight gain, which in itself has many physical side effects. Learning about the connection between stress and overeating helps you understand it better so you can take control of it.

  1. Causes and Signs of Stress

    • Stress is your body's physical response to things that disturb your natural balance. It can be brought on by external things, such as work, family problems or financial difficulties. Stress can also be self-generated; pressure from perfectionism or constantly putting yourself down can stress you out. When you are stressed you may experience problems sleeping, muscle tension, headaches and fatigue. You can be in a restless, irritable, or angry mood and experience depression. Withdrawing from others, excessive eating, smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and abusing drugs are all common signs of stress.

    Cortisol

    • When you are stressed, your body senses it as danger. It panics and has to decide whether you are going to fight or flee. During this time the stress hormone cortisol is released in your body and your energy levels go up. The stressful event passes, but your cortisol level remains high and stimulates your appetite. By eating your body feels that it has to recover from the stressful episode and prepares for the next one. The cravings you experience are hard to control and the foods you crave are starchy, sugary, fatty comfort foods. You eat more than you normally would.

    Risks of Stress and Overeating

    • Everyone responds differently to stress. What you find stressful, someone else may not. Regardless of what your stressors are, high stress levels worsen high cholesterol and high blood pressure. According to WebMD, stress increases your risk of a heart attack because it changes the manner in which your blood clots. Overeating can trigger weight problems and lead to obesity, which put you at a higher risk for heart problems, stroke, hypertension and diabetes.

    Managing Stress

    • You cannot erase stress from your life, but you can try to manage and control it. Practicing meditation or yoga can help you better handle stress. Exercising regularly can also help you relax. When you feel stress coming on, practice deep breathing. Sit down and close your eyes. Take a deep breath through your nose. Fill your lungs with as much air as they can take. Exhale all the air through your mouth. While you breathe, place your hand on your stomach to feel it inflate and deflate as you breathe. Keep breathing until stress subsides.

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