Stress is your body’s perception of current and future hardships. In order to prepare for these hardships, your body increases the amount of energy that it stores as body fat. In modern times, stress typically arise from job demands, relationship issues or poor health habits. Reversing the weight gain from stress requires both better management of the stress in your life to control stress hormones and adoption of a healthy diet and regular physical activity to lose excess pounds.
Stress
While this may have helped your ancestors survive a harsh winter or drought, most modern stress occurs because of physical neglect, mental anguish and stimulants that activate your body’s stress response. Stress activates your body’s sympathetic nervous system, responsible for fight-or-flight behavior, as opposed to rest-and-digest behavior. The sympathetic nervous system causes the release of neurotransmitters, such as adrenaline, and other hormones.
Hormones
Levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, increase in response to physical or mental challenges. If you find managing stress difficult, both mental levels of stress as well as levels of cortisol and other stress hormones can build up in your body. Short-term, stress hormones provide your body with energy needed to run or fight, but long-term, the rate of fat storage and water retention are dramatically increased. Your doctor can perform a blood, saliva or urine test to determine whether your stress hormone levels are elevated into harmful ranges.
Weight Gain
When your hormone levels are normal, only calories in excess of what your body uses are stored as fat. When stress hormones are high, however, a portion of every calorie is stored as fat. Psychologically, stress also causes you to seek out large amount of high calories food, such as sweets and junk food. After the initial fight-or-flight instinct has worn off, your body tends to get stuck in rest-and-digest behavior, decreasing your physical activity level.
Reducing Stress
Stress can come from both physical and mental sources. Find a regular activity, such as exercise, that helps you relieve the stress from your day. Practicing breathing, meditation or relaxation can also help moderate stress. Regular exercise can also help you sleep better, another source of stress. Eat a balanced and healthy diet at regular meal times and drink plenty of water. Avoid using stimulants, as they potentiate your body’s stress response. If stress is overwhelming or persistent, a psychiatrist or other mental health professional can help you work on methods to recognize situations leading to stress and strategies to cope.
