To Lose Weight, Shed Stress

By Leah Zerbe

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Trying to drop a few pounds? Relaxation can help, but men and women apparently need to relax in different settings, new research finds. The idea that stress can lead to weight gain isn’t a new one, but the new study found that certain types of stress are associated with even more weight gain in men and women who are already overweight. The research was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. After all, what do many of us do when we feel stressed out? Eat.

“Awareness of stress levels could aid in preventing further weight gain,” says Jason Block, MD, professor of population and development studies at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston. “Many people eat more in response to stress, especially people who already have a weight problem, so awareness of this tendency could protect against this.”

THE DETAILS: Researchers analyzed data from 1,355 U.S. men and women to determine if weight gain was affected by different types of psychosocial stress, including financial stress, work-related stress, a general feeling of constraint in life, and strain in relationships with family and/or a spouse or partner.

“It was interesting to discover that different types of stress are related to weight gain for men and women at higher baseline weight,” says Dr. Block. He and fellow researchers found that men gained more weight when under stress at the workplace or when dealing with finances, while women gain more weight under stress that arises from relationships with the family and a general sense of constraint in their lives. When facing increasing job-related demands and financial stress, already-overweight or obese women also tend to gain more weight.

WHAT IT MEANS: Stress can come from almost anywhere, but it seems that men are more affected by financial or workplace stress, while for women it’s the family and relationship stress that tends to influence weight gain most. Wherever it comes from, the result is a shockwave of stress hormones that can lead to insomnia, heart and gut problems, headaches, and yes, obesity. With all the extra cortisol floating about your body, you’ll experience mad cravings for sugar and fat, making it hard to stick to a healthy diet. Worse yet, consistently high cortisol levels cause your body to store fat centrally, that is, in your belly.

Exercise, meditation, and mindfulness are great stress busters. Here are some other ways to settle your nerves and eliminate belly fat at the same time: Eat for lower stress. Burrowing to the bottom of an ice cream carton isn’t going to ease your stress. In fact, it will probably make you feel worse. When stress strikes, grab a snack that’s healthy and will naturally calm you; examples include a glass of milk, an orange, a handful of almonds, or a light salad with spinach or other leafy greens.

• Reschedule your day to ease workplace tension. If your back is breaking from the pressure of looming deadlines or your heart rate is rising over an upcoming presentation, take a few moments to put things into perspective. When you’re freaking out over work, take a moment to think about the people, pets, or things that mean most to you in life—it’s an instant mellower. To tackle deadlines, show up at work an hour early—some estimates suggest you’ll be more productive in that one hour than you would be during three to four extra hours later in the day. And use your early morning time to tackle your most challenging tasks.

• Start a journal to sleep better. Don’t think you’re much of a writer? Don’t let that deter you from writing down the things you’re stressing about. Studies have found that when people journal what makes them anxious and write down the things they’ll need to handle the following day, they sleep better at night and that helps keep cortisol levels down.

This article was first posted here.

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