It's still that part of the year in which New Year's resolutions are accompanied by goals to achieve fitness and lose weight. Memberships in fitness centers soar at this time but frequently are not maintained. Certainly, there is value to exercise and proper diet in weight management. However, stress often is a cause of overeating and stress reduction strategies are part of an overall weight management program.
Suppose that you are having problems at work or at home. You feel stressed and notice that it's beginning to show in the form of a bulge in your mid-section. Why is this happening you say? Doesn't stress cause you to have less of an appetite? Well, yes in the short run but more long term or chronic stress actually increases your appetite.
Most of us overeat when we feel a lot of pressure. This happens because of our fight/flight response. This is when our body goes into survival mode. A major reason for this response is hormonal. When your brain detects the presence of a threat, no matter if it is a tiger or bear, a difficult relationship, or a financial challenge, it stimulates release of chemicals that include adrenaline and cortisol. You become more alert, ready for action and able to withstand an injury. In the short-term, adrenaline helps you feel less hungry as your blood flows away from the internal organs and to your large muscles to prepare for “fight or flight.” Once the threat is done, cortisol, sometimes referred to as the "stress hormone", lingers and signals your body to replenish your food supply as well as store fat and glucose (sugar). Now in the days of fighting or running from saber toothed tigers, you would have used much energy and calories.
However, in modern society, sitting at desks or on couches worrying about your stressors does not expend much energy at all. Yet, your neuroendocrine system acts as if you used up many calories and encourages you to replenish those calories, even though you don't need to do so.
Levels of cortisol rise during times when you feel tense. This can turn your overeating into a habit. Because increased levels of the hormone also help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods. Alas, excess cortisol also slows down your metabolism, because your body wants to maintain an adequate supply of glucose for all that hard mental and physical work dealing with the threat. You store extra body fat because your stomach has an ample supply of blood vessels and cortisol receptors to make the whole process flow more efficiently. The downside is that excess belly fat is unhealthy and difficult to eliminate. The fat releases chemicals triggering inflammation, which increases the likelihood that you will develop heart disease or diabetes.
So what happens when you feel anxious? You get a surge of adrenaline and feel fidgety and active. You may engage in "emotional eating". Overeating or eating unhealthy foods in response to stress or as a way to calm down is a very common response. In a survey on stress by the American Psychological Association, 40% of respondents reported dealing with stress in this way, while 42% reported watching television for more than 2 hours a day to deal with stress. Anxiety can also make you eat more “mindlessly”, i.e. without paying attention to what you are eating, how it tastes, how much you've eaten, or your feelings of fullness. And you will gain weight. You also will crave fast foods, sometimes called comfort foods as consuming sweet foods often satisfies our brain's reward systems. Comfort foods, e.g chips and ice cream, are high in the fat and sugar which cortisol craves to help you replenish supposedly lost calories. Also, poor sleep driven by worries and stress contribute to fatigue, lower blood sugar, and disrupted functioning of ghrelin and leptin, chemicals which control appetite.
So what can you do to maximize proper weight management even when you are stressed? Here are some ideas:
Get your proper exercise. Don't skip your workouts. Exercise can decrease cortisol and trigger release of chemicals that relieve pain and improve mood. It can also help speed your metabolism so you burn off whatever you may have eaten.
Engage in stress reduction strategies such as yoga, meditation, mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation. All of these strategies encourage you to focus on your own immediate reality, pay better attention to your physical self, and reduce worry and anxiety.
Get your proper rest and sleep. Avoid overeating in the evening, consuming stimulating beverages such as coffee, and use stress reduction strategies as discussed above.
Be more aware of what you are eating. Sometimes referred to as mindful eating, pay attention to what you are eating, slow down eating, attend to the feelings of fullness, and avoid emotional overeating. One way to reduce emotional overeating has been to focus on the future rather than on the present when inclined to eat comfort foods. Research has shown that when focusing on the future people make healthier choices in foods.
Find rewarding activities unrelated to food. Take a walk, read a book, increase your socialization with family and friends. These can help you relieve stress without overeating. But you say that you don't have time with all your stressors. Making and taking the time to do so will help you relieve stress, think more clearly, feel happier, and be less likely to overeat.
Check yourself for proper mindset. As I always say, become more aware of what you say to yourself about yourself. If you have too many thoughts like "I can't handle my stresses", "I'm overwhelmned", "I'll never get out from what is stressing me", then it's time for a mindset do-over. Challenge the above thoughts and remind yourself how many times you in fact have handled stressors. Remember that help is available in many forms. Keeping negative thoughts in your mind also will result in your reaching for "comfort foods" with all the additional problems that will cause.
Remember that your response to stress is a choice. It is not preordained. Overeating is not inevitable in the face of life pressures. Take control of your life. If you would like more information about all aspects of stress management, please consider acquiring our book on this topic (I Can't Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You; Paul G. Longobardi, Ph.D., and Janice B. Longobardi, R.N., B.S.N., P.H.N.) available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/ 1542458056 . For additional information on the authors and book, please see our website at www.manageyourhealthandstress.com
Good luck on your journey.
Dr. Paul Longobardi
For more information on these and related matters, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com.