How to stop stress causing weight gain

Stress plays a big role in our everyday lives. It often stems from things like work deadlines, financial issues, sleep deprivation, family problems, or poor health. Many people misunderstand stress, and if we don’t manage it properly, it can become a burden to both our physical and mental well-being. However, stress isn’t all bad. Our hormonal response to certain situations is a vital and necessary part of brain function, designed to keep us alive in the event of imminent danger.

Fight or flight?

You may have heard of the fight or flight response? This is what happens when we are placed in immediate danger. We can either take flight or fight the danger or threat that intends to harm us. This fight or flight response is part of a stress response that our body uses as a defence mechanism.

 

How can a stress response keep us alive?

Throughout evolution imminent dangers would have come in many forms. Dangers such as a natural disaster, famine, the threat of war or from an invading tribe. This stress response back then would have raised cortisol levels which would have caused a release of glucose from the liver to supply our skeletal muscles, our brain, heart and lungs with the necessary energy the organs need to ‘Fight or Flight’ out of harm’s way. This response enabled our ancestors to protect themselves and their tribes.

 

How does stress manifest in today’s day and age?

Fortunately, the dangers that caused these responses throughout human evolution are in today’s day and age quite a rare occurrence. However, even as modern day human beings our prehistoric brains still perceive the stressors of a modern-day world as mortal threats, and therefore our hormones respond accordingly.

So, if we are eliciting a largely unnecessary stress response as a result of our normal everyday life, this can have detrimental effects to our health both in the short and long-term. The release of glucose from the liver as a result of increased cortisol levels, can simply happen from unwanted events such as receiving an unwanted bill or an uncomfortable discussion with a colleague. This glucose isn’t needed to keep us “from imminent danger” however, our body now craves high caloric or comfort foods that we don’t necessarily need!

Connecting the dots now?

 

Other ways that stress can cause us to gain weight:

• Craving foods high in sugar and sodium
• Disrupted sleep patterns, which can cause the release of the hormone ghrelin triggering our brain into thinking we need to eat.

3 tips for controlling stress

Click here for podcast on how to control stress

1. A 20-minute daily practice of yoga, stretching, deep breathing or meditation. This can help with reducing stress in the moment as well as helping us tolerate stressful situations better.
2. Get adequate sleep 7-8 hours per night. Sleeping allows the body to reset our hormones
3. Regular exercise: Exercise for at least 30 minutes most days of the week. Science has proven this reduces stress levels.

In conclusion, stress can cause weight gain by disrupting our hormone levels, leading to poor eating habits and a lack of energy, which in turn results in physical inactivity. Stress responses create a vicious cycle that we need to address adequately. By managing stress effectively, we can achieve optimal physical and mental health.