Stress and Obesity

Filed in archive Weight on March 31, 2007

Granted, too much food, especially overly fatty or sweet food, can lead to obesity. So can a sedentary lifestyle. But what about stress?

Are you an emotional eater? When worry gnaws at your belly, do you try to calm the tremors with food? An article in the Fat Problem tells us:

Like fatty food and physical inactivity, stress is also one of the key factors behind this much or rise in obesity. This factor was unveiled through a new study that tracked about 6,895 men and 3,413 women for almost 19 years. All these men and women were between the ages 35 to 55 years.

In fact, stress causes all kinds of problems, from killing off brain cells to causing depression. Enough stress can lead to aheart attack or stroke. What is stress? I like the explanation I found on the Teach Health site:

We are all familiar with the word "stress". Stress is when you are worried about getting laid off your job, or worried about having enough money to pay your bills, or worried about your mother when the doctor says she may need an operation. In fact, to most of us, stress is synonymous with worry. If it is something that makes you worry, then it is stress.

Your body, however, has a much broader definition of stress. TO YOUR BODY, STRESS IS SYNONYMOUS WITH CHANGE. Anything that causes a change in your life causes stress. It doesn't matter if it is a "good" change, or a "bad" change, they are both stress. When you find your dream apartment and get ready to move, that is stress. If you break your leg, that is stress. Good or bad, if it is a CHANGE in your life, it is stress as far as your body is concerned.