In our lives today we pretty much end up ignoring our health when it comes to work. Another of those dirty little four letter words…. When we ignore our health, we end up becoming bloated and unhealthy and may develop long term illnesses. A moderate amount of stress can serve to motivate us to take care of ourselves but increasing amounts of stress cause us to neglect our health and can result in gaining weight.
Some of the ways in which stress causes us to gain weight are discussed here.
Stress can promote a craving for salty junk food which doesn’t have much nutritional value yet contains a high amount of sugar and fat as well as salt which results in water retention.
Stress causes a hormonal imbalance since we are in a heightened state of fight/flight for long periods of time. In earlier times, our stressors usually resulted in our acting in the flight/fight mode but that only lasted until we had removed ourselves from the situation. Today, there is never a letdown in the stress - it is not as heightened but it is there for longer periods of time causing our bodies to have to deal with the constant hormonal release it wasn’t designed to. One of the results of the fight/flight situation is that our body shifts the blood flow from functions that don’t need an increase in oxygenated blood to those requiring it. Digestion is not a high priority function so our food may remain largely undigested. That in itself might not be so bad but scientists have determined that our body stores fat when it thinks it is not going to have enough to sustain it in the future. So, when our digestion is arrested, the body says “uh, oh, I better store up something for a rainy day” and does this repeatedly until we have a layer of fat over our body.
Stress also leads to overeating. Our body isn’t producing the mood enhancing hormones so we crave food to provide satisfaction. We may not have the food available to exactly meet the craving so we end up eating various foods in an effort to fill the specific need.
Proper relaxation can be a solution in this situation. If you learn to relax by doing it regularly it can become a permanent part of your life. Again, taking breaks throughout the day can be very beneficial leading to increased productivity when you return to the task at hand.
Some relaxation methods that work well are taking a walk, get up from your work and go outside for a few minutes, do some deep breathing exercises periodically, do some meditation to reduce stress and eventually that weight will come off and you can reach your desired weight.
For information on Managing Stress to Control Weight Gain.
