What is stress eating
Stress eating is an aspect of emotional eating that is not an uncommon phenomenon. Craving for rich foods when stress strikes is the body’s reaction of a trigger in the brain, it is really both a biological and environmental matter.
Scientists have come to prove that we seek sweets and savory food items not just because they taste good. Eating these kinds of pleasurable food is the body’s attempt to break away from chronic stress.
Here’s an attempt to explain the inner workings of our brain and how it is affected by stress and food.
When faced with a stressful situation, say you almost got into a road accident when another driver cuts you off and you swerve to avoid getting hit. You will obviously get frazzled and your heart beats right out of your chest. Because of this experience of sudden danger, your brain sends signals for your body to produce a hormone called cortisol or the “stress hormone”. Cortisol is what helps your body have a quick burst of energy needed for life-saving, heightened functions of memory and burst of increased immunity so you will be ready for action.
Cortisol is very useful in emergency situations. However, cortisol is also produced when you are chronically stressed. According to the study by the University of California, chronic stress keeps the production of cortisol up which in turn drives your body to Code Red with lots of anxiety and hyperalertness. Cortisol also triggers the activation of other brain regions which directs you to want high-energy foods that are rich in fat and sugar.
Simply put, stress triggers cortisol which makes all those sinful delights more delightful to you.
In turn, high-calorie food makes everyone feel better and function better when faced with stress but that is in the short term. But the danger is that long-term stress factors do not go away easily so stress eating is really habit-forming. The more stressed you are, the more you eat and the more likely you are to mope around. By not moving and dealing with stress proactively, stress eating causes you to pack the pounds from the unburned calories.
Although stress eating may be explained by science as something that has minimal benefits, it is but a short term solution for long-term problems. And it ultimately causes more harm than good.