Stress and the link to obesity
Image credit: Healthline.com
There’s no denying that stress is bad for your health. Particularly living in the city, stress levels are at an all-time high and it’s making us sicker as a nation. Having myself worked the 9–5 job (which we all know hasn’t been 9–5 for many years!) for 10 years before changing career, it’s become so important to keep our mental health in check.
For years, many people have suspected that stress and obesity are linked — and now scientific research has found evidence to support this connection. Specific biochemical reactions appear to help explain this link and, as doctors better understand these reasons, they may be better able to address the obesity epidemic facing the world at the moment (in the UK alone we have over 12 million people suffering from obesity).
The most insidious aspect of the link between stress and obesity is that it tends to be self-reinforcing. Very often, when people are stressed they may eat inappropriately. If that causes them to gain weight, that can cause even more stress. You wind up causing exactly what you’re trying to alleviate and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Both animals and humans have been documented to increase their food intake following stress or negative emotion, even if the organism is not hungry. Further, the type of food eaten tends to be high in sugar, fat, or both. There’s a load of evidence that humans are more stressed today than we were thirty years ago, which correlates directly with the expansion of our waistlines.
Stress and Obesity: The Biological Connection
Ever notice that when you’re really stressed, you tend to crave comfort foods that are high in fat or sugar? Researchers have found that specific hormones may play a role in this process.
Serotonin
The feeling of happiness is not just an aesthetic state, but also a biochemical one, mediated by the neurotransmitter serotonin (the body’s feel-good chemical). A deficiency of brain serotonin causes severe clinical depression, which is why selective serotonin booster drugs, e.g. Prozac that increase brain serotonin, are used as treatment. These medications are also used for obesity. When we reach for fattening comfort foods during stressful times, it may be an attempt to self-medicate. When you eat carbohydrates for example, it raises the body’s serotonin level and it makes you feel better. So if you’re serotonin-deficient, you’re going to want to top-up your serotonin any way you can. Very often in these situations the carbohydrates that people go for are laden with saturated fat and sugar, like muffins, pastries, doughnuts, and cookies. But as serotonin levels fall, more sugar is needed for the same effect. The insulin drives leptin resistance (a hormone released from fat cells that sends a message to the brain reporting on energy stores) and the brain thinks it is starved. This drives that vicious cycle I mentioned earlier of constant consumption of the wrong foods, which can very quickly lead to addiction.
Cortisol
Researchers have also discovered that chronic stress can cause the body to release excess cortisol, a hormone critical in managing fat storage and energy use in the human body. Cortisol is released from your adrenal glands (located on top of your kidneys). This is perhaps the most important hormone in your body. As Dr Robert Lustig states in his book, ‘Fat Chance’, “Too little cortisol, and you can die. If you’re missing any other hormone in your body — growth, thyroid, sex, or water-retaining hormones — you’ll feel lousy and your life will be miserable, but you won’t perish. But if you’re missing cortisol, you can’t handle any form of physical stress.”
Cortisol is of course necessary, albeit in small doses and short bursts, and in our society today everyone experiences some sort of stress. However, long-term exposure to cortisol can kill you — it’ll just take longer. As Dr Robert Lustig states, ‘If pressures (social, familial, cultural etc.) are relentless, the stress responses remain activated for months or even years. When cortisol floods the bloodstream, it raises blood pressure; increases the blood glucose level, which can precipitate diabetes; and increases the heart rate.” Cortisol is known to increase appetite and may encourage cravings for sugary or fatty foods. And cortisol doesn’t cause just any old weight gain. It specifically increases the visceral fat, which is the fat you can’t physically see that surrounds your internal organs.
So what’s the answer? Break the cycle.
• Don’t go food shopping when hungry. You may have heard it before but try not to go food shopping when you are hungry. You will end up making the wrong food choices, and probably come out poorer as a result!
• Don’t allow yourself to become too hungry. When you get hungry and you go too long without eating, you get a drop in your blood sugar. It’s very hard to think rationally when your blood sugar levels are that low. You’ll eat anything. So to avoid this scenario, be sure you’re not skipping meals.
• Keep portion size in mind. When people are stressed out, there’s a tendency not to think about what they’re eating and how much they’re eating. Smaller portions can help keep your total calorie intake under control. Also look at the recommended portion sizes for snacks.
• Eat healthy snacks. My biggest tip is to have protein with every meal, and that includes snacks. The body digests them more slowly, allowing you to feel fuller for longer.
• Think about what you’re eating. When people are really stressed, they think that paying attention to their diet will cause more stress. It’s actually the complete opposite. Think that around 80% of what you put into your body the body should benefit from. Think of the food’s vitamin and nutrient value and don’t forget that food is fuel for the mind as well as the body.
• Deal with your stress. This may be easier said than done, but finding ways to manage your stress is essential to your overall health. Try yoga, meditation or mindfulness. Exercise regularly. Spend time with friends. Take up a hobby. Try and reduce the number of stressors in your life.