Stressed Out and Gaining Weight

  Could stress keep me from being slim?
            By  Kelly D.  Brownell, PhD
 

March 26, 2001 -- Two questions here are key: Can you control where you lose weight, and does stress affect eating, weight, and where fat is distributed on the body?  These are important issues that have occupied experts for a number of years.

People have limited control over where they gain and lose weight. This is determined by hormones, whether you're a man or a woman, and other factors researchers are just now learning about. You can control whether you lose weight, but you have less say in where it is lost. With that said, stress is a definite player.

A number of researchers, including my colleagues and I, are studying stress, eating, and body weight, spurred partly by the interesting paradox that stress leads some people to eat less and others to eat more. This may relate in part to cortisol, a hormone that is released during stress.

The amount of cortisol released varies from person to person depending on how much stress they experience and how their bodies handle it. Some people are highly reactive to stress and show substantial biological changes, including cortisol release. Increased cortisol release is related to storage of fat, particularly in the abdominal area. This stored fat is associated with greater risk of some pretty serious problems, including heart disease and stroke.

Elissa Epel, PhD, a former graduate student who worked with me (now at the University of California at San Francisco), has studied stress, eating, and cortisol.  She found that women with excess weight in the abdominal area released more cortisol when stressed than did women with weight distributed elsewhere. She also found that women who release high levels of cortisol due to stress eat more when stressed. These and other studies show that stress may lead to increased eating and fat storage, and that cortisol is central to this process.

But what can you do about this stress-related weight gain?

It is clear that everyone experiences stress, but some people experience much more than others. Life circumstances are one part of the equation. Losing a loved one, serious illness, financial difficulties, and relationship problems are events that would stress anyone. However, how a person perceives stressful situations is also important. Two people might do poorly on a task -- but one uses it as an opportunity to learn, and the other feels major stress. Hence, stress makes life difficult, but our reaction to it is important as well.
 
For someone whose life is stressful, there are two logical moves. One is to reduce stress. This sometimes requires major life changes, but may also be helped by learning time management skills, assertiveness, etc. This involves identifying the source of stress and making necessary changes. 

The second approach is to find constructive ways of coping with stress. Meditation, yoga, and exercise are good in this regard. Better yet, take a stress management class or get a good book on the topic and really follow it. The beauty of relieving stress is that it may help with weight control and can also make life much more pleasant.

Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, is an internationally known expert on eating disorders, obesity, and body weight regulation. He is a professor of psychology at Yale University, where he also serves as professor of epidemiology and public health and as director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. 

First Alternative Chiropractic©

February 11, 2007