Picture two people eating the same dinner. One has had a calm month. The other has been buried in deadlines, a sick parent and a car that will not start. Months later, only one of them is buying bigger jeans, and willpower is not the explanation. Hormones are.
Harvard Health Publishing describes the pattern plainly. “There is much truth behind the phrase ‘stress eating,’” it says. In the first moments of a scare, stress actually shuts appetite down. The nervous system tells the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys, to pump out epinephrine, better known as adrenaline. That sets off the fight-or-flight response, and eating goes on hold.
When the alarm does not switch off
Here’s what it means when the stress drags on. The adrenal glands release a second hormone, cortisol, and cortisol pushes appetite up. It may also turn up drive in general, eating included. Normally cortisol falls once the crisis passes. If the stress never lets go, or the body’s alarm system sticks in its “on” setting, the level can stay high.
Think of it like a smoke alarm that keeps ringing long after the toast has been scraped. Nobody cooks well with the noise going, and nobody eats well either.
Cleveland Clinic adds the wider picture. Cortisol is not a villain by design. It helps the body manage its stress response, sends sugar from the liver into the blood for quick energy, helps regulate how the body uses glucose, and keeps inflammation in check for short stretches. Levels are usually lowest in the evening and peak in the morning right before waking. Trouble starts when levels stay high for a long time. The clinic says that is usually Cushing syndrome, caused by high-dose corticosteroid medicines or by tumors in the pituitary or adrenal glands. Its symptoms include weight gain, especially in the face and belly, along with high blood sugar, high blood pressure and weak bones.
Cravings with a purpose
Stress also changes what people want to eat. Harvard notes that many studies, though a lot of them in animals, show that physical or emotional distress sends people toward fatty, sugary foods, or foods that are both. High cortisol together with high insulin may be responsible, and ghrelin, the “hunger hormone,” may play a part. There is a feedback twist: fatty, sugary food seems to dampen the stress response afterward. That is why the comfort in “comfort food” is more than a figure of speech.
Food is not the only route. Stressed people tend to lose sleep, exercise less and drink more alcohol, and all three can add pounds.
The research also shows who is most affected. Women are more likely to turn to food under stress, men to alcohol or smoking. A Finnish study of more than 5,000 men and women linked obesity to eating under stress among women, but found no such link among men. Harvard researchers reported that stress from work and other troubles correlated with weight gain only in people who were already overweight, possibly because elevated insulin makes stress-related gain more likely. In 2007, British researchers found that people who responded to stress with high cortisol in an experimental setting were more likely to snack during daily hassles than low-cortisol responders.
What helps
The practical upshot is modest but real. Harvard suggests clearing high-fat, sugary foods out of the fridge and cupboards, since keeping them handy invites trouble. Meditation can help people notice the impulse to grab a comfort snack and hold it off. Exercise can blunt some of stress’s damage, and yoga and tai chi combine movement with meditation. Friends and family also act as a buffer.
If your weight has climbed without an obvious reason, or you have symptoms such as purple stretch marks or muscle weakness, Cleveland Clinic says to contact a healthcare provider.
Sources
- Why stress causes people to overeat – Harvard Health
- Cortisol: What It Is, Function, Symptoms & Levels
