Stress Effects Weight Gain
As described in an article in the American Journal of Epidemiology, stressing out does cause people to put on weight. It is thought that this study is among the first of its sort to look at the relationship between weight gain and multiple types of stress. It looked at different types of stress that included job-related demands, difficulty paying bills, tense family relationships, depression or anxiety disorder.
“Today’s economy is stressing people out, and stress has been linked to a number of illnesses – such as heart disease, high blood pressure and increased risk for cancer. This study shows that stress is also linked to weight gain” as described by Jason Block, M.D., M.P.H.. Dr Block is the person that directed the study as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health … Society Scholar at Harvard University. Block practices internal medicine at Brigham … Women’s Hospital and is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
The study points out that women’s waistlines are affected by more types of stress. As discovered in the study, “Psychosocial Stress and Change in Weight Among U.S. Adults.” Along with weight gain connected with financial problems or a difficult job, women also put on pounds when wrestling with strained family relationships and feeling restricted by life’s conditions.
For males, the numbers on the scale did not increase when facing strained family relationships or feeling constrained by life circumstances. For men, lack of decision say-so at work and want of skill discretion was related to greater weight increases. Skill discretion can be defined as the ability to learn new skills on the job and to engage in interesting job duties.
In general, this research found that people who reported raised psychological stress put on more weight if they already had higher body mass indexes (BMI). A similar weight-gain pattern was not found among lower-weight people who were dealing with the same types of stress, as reported in the study.
When coping with life’s stressful times, people may change their eating behaviors, and this can lead to changes in weight. Stress induced weight increase is influenced by a person’s gender, what types of foods people eat when they change their eating behaviors, and whether the person is already overweight or obese. These factors have been shown to cause some people to gain more weight under stressful circumstances. But sometimes others may gain less weight or some times even lose weight when stressed.
The study recommended that stress decrease may be an important part of weight-loss programs in the workplace and in clinical and public health programs. In the workplace, access to weight-loss programs, flexible work schedules and exercise equipment can help stressed-out workers.
“This is one of the first studies to explore the relationship between stress and weight gain,” Block said. “Our findings show that stress should be recognized as a threat to the well-being of adults, especially those who are already overweight.
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