Advertisements
Whether it's the pandemic, burnout from work or relationship issues, stress is a part of everyday life. And while some stress is normal, chronic stress can take a toll on your health. Case in point: your weight. Indeed, stress can cause weight loss or gain.
Video of the Day
Let's first clarify that temporary stress can be a good thing: Acute stress can help you stay alert to your surroundings and may even stimulate your body's ability to recover in situations of short-term strain, like surgery, according to Stanford Medicine.
But when stress becomes chronic, it can negatively affect your body and mind, per Stanford Medicine. That's because today, stress often manifests as a response to mentally taxing situations, like trauma, grief or burnout (or all three at once, in the case of the coronavirus pandemic).
Living in a prolonged state of stress can literally change your body's functioning, which can have an effect on your weight, per Stanford Medicine. It can also lead to coping mechanisms that likewise contribute to weight changes.
Advertisements
Here, we talked to experts to learn about the connections between stress and weight gain or loss (plus their tips for how to cope).
Tip
Chronic stress is linked to conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, addiction and mood and anxiety disorders, according to Yale Health. As a result, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional if you have prolonged stress to help prevent long-term health issues.
1. Stress Can Tank Your Activity Levels
"Stress affects everybody differently, even though it works the same in everybody," says Eric First, MD, co-founder and chief scientific officer at R3SET, a company dedicated to mitigating the effects of long-term stress on the body.
And stress can cause weight loss or gain indirectly: For instance, some people respond to stress by becoming sedentary, according to Harvard Health Publishing. After all, who among us didn't hole up on the couch for a Netflix marathon (or two, or three...) at the start of the pandemic?
Regular exercise is an important way to burn calories and manage weight, which is why a lack of physical activity can potentially lead to weight gain, per the Mayo Clinic.
Activity can also help regulate your mood, improve mental health and reduce stress, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. As a result, not exercising can contribute to higher stress and weight gain without overeating.
