What Psychology Teaches Us # 2 - That Stress results in Weight Gain

I, Jyotika Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries.

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It has been popularly known for quite some time now that stress is a contributing factor in obesity. Yet, most people find it difficult to see the relationship between stress and obesity. The problem in perceiving this relationship is that stress is something that is largely experienced internally. On the other hand, weight is something that is clearly visible on the outside. The question that comes to mind is, "how can something that cannot even be seen have such a damaging effect on the body?" With this post, I attempt to make obvious the relationship between these seemingly unconnected factors which is both, very real and very important to be understood.

The first understanding that will help us see this relationship is that stress is certainly not a purely emotional experience. In reality it is largely a physical experience that has an emotional component to it. When stress occurs, it results in a lot of activity in the body -- Think of the last time you experienced stress. Go back to the time when you heard of something that caused you stress for the first time. You must have experienced an increase in your heart rate, rapid perspiration, heavy breathing etc. If the stress went on for a long time, you must have felt a dip in your energy, heaviness in your body, pain in your muscles, headaches, etc. Where did all these symptoms come from? They came from your autonomic nervous system in the short run and the activity of your hormones in your endocrine system in the long run. You need not understand these systems in detail, all you need to know for now is that there are concrete physical changes happening inside your body whenever you experience stress. In the short run, they activate a system which causes the body to use its energy rapidly and in the long run, they cause the body to activate the system which helps it to store its resources of energy, the chief of which is body fat. Our ancestors benefited from conserving their bodily energy against any potential threat in their future, a mechanism that has stayed with us to date. However, since we seldom have to face such physical dangers in today's world, this mechanism is doing us more harm than good.

Moreover, it is important to understand that it is a misconception that emotions have nothing to do with the body or that they are "all in the mind." All emotions are comprised of physical and mental changes and hence, it should come as no surprise that whatever we feel during stress - be it worry, sorrow, anger or the like - is bound to have an impact on our body; with the longer the duration of the emotional experience, the more lasting the impact of it.

The next understanding that sheds light on the relationship between stress and body weight is that of the cognitive-behavioural impact of stress. Where stress does the most damage in this respect is on self-regulation. Again, think about the last time you were stressed. Were you able to focus on any other matter except the one that served as the source of your stress? Can you even remember much of what you did at that time except for how you put up with the stress? 

When it comes to weight management, most of us have to put quite a bit of effort into it, which at the very least involves applying conscious attention. This effort does become automated with time but nonetheless, it is an effort. In order to keep our body weight to normal, we have to be careful with respect to both, our food intake and our physical activity. Since most of us feel a natural temptation for high-calorie food and since the most of us find rigorous physical activity difficult, we take special care to incorporate healthy eating habits and physical exercise into our routine. Furthermore, every single time that we set out to avoid a tempting snack or to engage in a few push-ups, we convince ourselves that it is worth the present displeasure. This effort and conviction become very difficult to carry out in the face of stress. As you must have realized while remembering your last experience of stress, it is difficult to focus on anything else besides your troubles in the face of stress be it eating consciously or maintaining the body carefully. We can only imagine how much this problem of self-regulation can escalate with passing time since maintaining one's physicality is an everyday affair.

One final understanding that explains the relationship between stress and body weight is the natural emotional responsiveness of humans. Human beings are such that they constantly desire a state of mental equilibrium. Just as our bodies work to maintain a state of homeostasis at all times, our minds work to maintain a state of peace. Undoubtedly, there are many agitated people around us these days but whatever their unhealthy mechanisms of dealing with life might be, they are also in attempting to bring rest to their mind.

The feeling of unrest that stress brings is intolerable to the human mind which seeks to restore its peace in whatever way it knows best. One common way in which humans learn to comfort themselves is by eating tasty food which tends to comprise of a high amount of calories. Though the physiological changes that occur during stress do cause the body to demand a higher caloric intake, there is an undeniable contribution of cultural patterns of consumption on such eating behaviour. Most cultures include delicious food as a vital part of socializing, celebrating and rewarding its members. This teaches members to associate palatable food with happiness which is exactly what the mind seeks to restore itself when weary due to the burden of stress. This unhealthy coping mechanism can go a long way in affecting one's physicality in the long term.

There are several other physical and mental mechanisms that have been proposed to mediate the relationship between stress and weight gain. Nonetheless, the explanations I have presented in this post have been the ones most supported by years of research. I hope that the insight you develop from this post gives you one more good reason to bid stress a final farewell from your life.

How are you planning to get rid of the stress in your life? Do let me know in the comments below.