Stress and weight gain

Chronic stresses cause weight gain. The culprit? A hormone called Neuropeptide Y. Stress turns on a switch to this chemical messenger found in body fat. It increases appetite, especially for carbohydrate-rich foods, and causes the body to convert extra calories into dangerous belly fat.

The amount of weight gain increased three-fold when a high fat, high sugar diet was given to lab mice subjected to chronic stress. It also caused metabolic syndrome (glucose intolerance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and inflammation).

However, when researchers blocked the effects of neuropeptide Y on the animals, it reduced stress-induced visceral fat by 50 percent, at the same amount of activity and food!

In humans, studies have shown that there is a direct relationship between work stress and risk of obesity. More specifically, stress increased abdominal fat.

Anxiety and depression also increase the risk of obesity. Insulin and blood-sugar levels tend to be higher in those who are anxious and depressed.

Neuropeptide Y stimulates growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), which leads to weight gain and increased cancer risk. The action of this hormone may help to explain the relationship between obesity and increased cancer risk.

Several studies have shown that a diet low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, omega?3 fatty acids and soy products inhibits angiogenesis.

Stress affects how we eat, which in turns affects how we feel. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Marketing found that people who are feeling unhappy eat larger amounts of foods they consider tasty and unhealthy, compared to happy people.

Stress is a chemical event that makes us fat and sick. When we are fat and sick, we get more stressed. Which makes us fatter, and sicker. How do we get out of this loop then? Perhaps the first step is learning how to handle stress skillfully. That consists of acknowledging the situation, managing our environment, training ourselves (e.g., mindfulness based stress reduction, heart rate variability methods), and perhaps most importantly as a first step, making a commitment to learning how to change for the better.

Easier said than done. I think it really has to be a coordination of many different variables within our control.