How Stress Can Cause Weight Gain? The Role of Cortisol in the Body
Very often, when you want to lose weight, you think that intensive sports and introducing a proper diet will cause its decrease. You do not realize how seriously the stress influences your food choices but also changes on the biochemical level occurring in the body under stressful events. You are having problems at home or with deadlines at work. You are spending all day at work, drinking enormous amounts of coffee, skipping meals, rushing home, spending time in traffic, collecting kids from school …
Where Are These Extra Kilos Coming From?
Suddenly, you’ve noticed a “fat around the middle that wasn’t there before”. In this blog post, I will show you how stress affects your weight and what is responsible for it at the biological level.
The Link Between Stress and Cortisol.
According to some researchers, stress may contribute to changes in dietary behaviours that lead to weight change or cortisol reactivity in response to stress.
Cortisol, The Stress Hormone.
Cortisol is a hormone released by the adrenal glands under stressful situations, or as your brain triggers its release in response to many different stressors in your life.
Are Cortisol and Adrenaline The Same?
The adrenal glands are triangular-shaped glands that rest on top of the kidneys. These glands produce some hormones (chemical messengers), that help our bodies respond to and cope with stressful situations. In response to acute stress (a fright, physical stress etc.), the adrenal glands produce adrenaline, which gives the body the boost in energy it needs for “fight or flight” response (also called acute stress response). The physiological and psychological response to stress prepares the body to react to the danger. The effects of adrenaline last only a short time, whereas, in prolonged stressful situations, the adrenal glands begin to produce another hormone called cortisol.
What Does Cortisol Do?
Most cells in the human body have cortisol receptors which means that cortisol plays a role in many different functions in the body such as:
Blood sugar control
Regulation of blood pressure
A healthy immune system
Keeping inflammation in check
All of these functions make cortisol a vital hormone for the defence of general health and well-being.
Try out balancing blood sugar and antiinflammatory recipes.
Why Is High Cortisol Bad?
In a healthy individual, cortisol levels rise and fall in response to circadian rhythms (it should be highest after waking up in the morning and lowest in the evening). However, with prolonged stress, higher levels of cortisol can remain in the blood for prolonged periods resulting in:
Blood sugar imbalances, particularly high blood sugar which could lead to insulin resistance and diabetes
Higher blood pressure
Lowered immunity
Increased abdominal fat
Does Cortisol Cause Sugar Cravings?
Under stressful conditions, the level of cortisol “stress hormone” raises as it supplies your body with quick energy and prepares to fight or flight. However, elevated cortisol consistently produces glucose over the long term, leading to increased blood sugar levels. Because increased levels of cortisol also help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods. It’s very often the first thing you crave and reach for when you’re stressed or after the stressful situation ends. Then, this energy is stored mainly in the form of abdominal fat, which is particularly hard to lose. Belly fat is not limited to the extra layers located just below the skin, it also includes visceral fat — which lies deep inside your abdomen, surrounding your internal organs such as liver, pancreas and intestines.
Research has shown that abdominal fat is referred to as “active fat” as if it’s linked with dangerous health problems, including:
Heart disease
Type 2 diabetes
High blood pressure
Abnormal cholesterol
Breathing problems
Infertility
Hormonal imbalances leading to a higher incidence of menstrual dysfunction and anovulation in women and higher risk for reproductive health in men.
The vicious cycle starts: you get stressed, the cortisol is released, the insulin spikes, the blood sugar drops, and you crave and eat sugar (and other processed sugary foods), gain weight, crave more sugar and eat more, the stress response starts again … and you gain much more weight.
Are you experiencing sugar cravings, have difficulties in losing weight? Are you an emotional eater?
Or maybe are you planning to get pregnant and balance your hormones?
If you think your weight has increased up to as a result of stress, start tackling some healthy habits that will help you get back to your old shape.
Eat healthily, get active, and do things that make you relaxed and happy.
The bottom line?
“More stress = more cortisol = higher appetite for unhealthy food = more belly fat”.
Do you want to break the cycle forever?
Cortisol, Insulin Resistance and Metabolism
Even if you aren't eating foods high in fat and sugar all the time, but you are stressed, “the stress hormone” also makes your metabolism slow down, making it more difficult to lose weight.
According to scientists from the Ohio State University College of Medicine who examined the blood sugar, cholesterol, insulin, and cortisol levels among women experiencing stress the previous day before, feeding them also with a high-calorie meal.
As a result, the 6 hours difference between one prior day stressor and no stressors translates into 435 kJ, a difference that could add almost 11 pounds per year. These findings illustrate how stress and depression alter metabolic responses to high-fat meals in ways that promote obesity.
The researchers also found out that those women burned also fewer calories than non-stressed women and had higher insulin levels, which promotes fat storage. Cortisol leads to a reduction in insulin sensitivity known as insulin resistance. The cells do not absorb as much glucose, which might lead to excessively high blood sugar levels. This can progress to type 2 diabetes without management.
Stress Promotes Unhealthy Habits
Along with the hormonal changes related to stress response, stressful situations can also lead you to employ in the following unhealthy behaviours, all of which can cause weight gain:
Emotional eating: Increased levels of cortisol may not only make you want to devour unhealthy food, but additional nervousness may also cause you to consume more than you naturally would. You might find that snacking gives you some quick relief from stress, but, it makes you more difficult to manage healthy habits and weight.
Eating more junk food: when you are tired and stressed, it’s more likely that you don’t have time and will have more mental energy to cook a nutritious meal. Unhealthy and "fast" food is higher in both sugar and fat and also full of unwanted calories. Junk food servings are larger, too. So you eat more without even noticing it. Larger amounts of food eaten during a stressful time can quickly add up to excess weight.
Moving less: with all the demands on your calendar, the activity could be one of the last items on your to-do list. If that is the case, you're not alone. Long journeys and hours spent sitting behind a desk will leave little room for physical activity leading to more stress and weight gain as a result.
Skipping meals: if you handle a hundred things simultaneously, eating a healthy meal can not be your priority. You might find yourself skipping meals because you're working late or you're not cooking dinner as there's too much on your priority list. Skipping meals can cause your blood sugar levels to drop. Low blood sugar causes you to feel irritable, confused and fatigued. Your body begins to increase the production of cortisol, leaving you stressed and hungry.
Sleeping less: many of my clients always report that they can’t sleep, but they do not always link the poor sleeping behaviours to stressful events during the day. Stress has long been known to be linked to sleep problems. Stress can cause the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to release hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol leading to the heart to increase the rate and preparing the body to act immediately if required. Feeling overstressed and overstimulated can adversely affect sleep quality and duration leading also to unhealthy eating habits.
What Are The Tips For Reducing Cortisol In Your Body?
Once in a while, we all deal with stress. It's up to you to take care of your stresses as best as you can. It's a great start to resist the temptation to overeat. To lose excess fat and prevent it from coming back, strive for gradual and steady weight loss.
Get support from family and friends. It’s always good to have someone to talk to and trust. If you’re feeling anxious, speak with someone about it.
“Take a deep breath. Inhale peace. Exhale happiness.”