Is it true that stress makes you gain weight? Research says...

A bakery manager once came to consult about weight loss because of obesity. At that time, Taiwan was hit by a series of food safety scandals. She was under great pressure to achieve sales, and she had to frequently taste food. As a result, she gained 12 kilograms in the first year of opening. She asked me, "Is it because of the excessive pressure that I became obese?"

When talking about stress, we have to talk about the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are located on top of the kidneys on both sides, like a hat covering the kidneys. The adrenal gland is divided into the outer cortex and the central medulla. When stress suddenly comes, such as when you are robbed, the medulla will immediately secrete adrenaline (epinephrine). At this time, your heart rate will accelerate and blood pressure will rise. Your reaction is either to fly or to fight the criminal.

In the past, there was a case where a mother was able to lift up the refrigerator in order to save her child who was trapped under it. After the incident, when she was asked to move the refrigerator again, she was unable to do it. This was due to the large amount of adrenaline secreted during the crisis. Unlike an emergency, when you are facing long-term stress, the cortex will secrete the stress hormone cortisone (also called cortisol) to cope with the long-term stress.

What you need to know about stress hormones

The stress hormone cortisol is just like the steroids used by doctors, so the continued secretion of cortisol caused by long-term stress is like the side effects of long-term steroid use, such as improved appetite, weight gain, edema, etc. Cortisol is a very important hormone for the human body to maintain a normal life. Without this cortisol, people will quickly become weak, tired, and even die.

However, long-term and continuous secretion of this hormone in large quantities will not only lead to obesity, but also cause high blood pressure, increased insulin resistance and diabetes. Cortisol can also suppress testosterone, causing muscle loss and ultimately a sudden increase in body fat that is out of control.

Usually, body fat percentage will increase within a month after stress begins. If the stress can be relieved at this time, body fat will drop quickly. However, if the stress persists, cortisol will prompt the body to absorb more calories, and the happy hormone serotonin in the brain will also decrease due to stress. At this time, in order to relieve the anxious mood, you will want to consume more sugars, such as desserts, cakes, bread, ice cream, rice, noodles, etc.

Gradually, these sugars will be converted into fat, and even muscle composition will gradually decrease. Three months after the onset of stress, the anti-stress hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) also begins to decline. At this time, not only can the appetite not be reduced, but even late-night snacks will become more and more frequent, thus leading to long-term stress-induced obesity.

Similar studies in the UK and Australia have confirmed that long-term stress is indeed related to obesity and is more likely to cause the accumulation of visceral fat in the abdomen. In 2015, a study using mice as a model found that if pregnant mice are under high stress, not only will their own weight increase, but the mice they give birth to will also be more likely to consume high-calorie food, causing the pups to become obese.

I have observed many obese children whose family backgrounds either involve great financial pressure, or unhappy parents, or even violent tendencies. Whether these pressures will cause the children's serum cortisol to be too high, so that they rely on eating to relieve stress, and eventually lead to obesity, is indeed worthy of our deep consideration.

This article is from New Naturalism "After losing weight, these diseases disappeared! 》