Stress Creates Weight Increases
As described in a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology, stressing out does cause people to increase in weight. It is thought that this study is one of the first of its kind to examine at the relationship between weight gain and multiple types of stress. It looked at different types of stress that included job-related demands, difficulty paying off bills, tense family relationships, depression or anxiety disorder.
“Today’s economy is stressing people out, and stress has been linked to a number of illnesses – such as heart disease, high blood pressure and increased risk for cancer. This study shows that stress is also linked to weight gain” as described by Jason Block, M.D., M.P.H.. Dr Block is the person that directed the research as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health … Society Scholar at Harvard University. Block practices internal medicine at Brigham … Women’s Hospital and is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
The study shows that women’s waists are affected by more types of stress. As discovered in the study, “Psychosocial Stress and Change in Weight Among U.S. Adults.” Along with weight gain affiliated with financial problems or a difficult job, women also put on pounds when confronting tense family relationships and feeling restricted by life’s conditions.
For males, the numbers on the scale did not go up when tackling tense family relationships or feeling limited by life circumstances. For men, lack of decision authority in the workplace and lack of skill discretion was affiliated with greater weight increases. Skill discretion can be defined as the power to acquire new skills on the job and to perform interesting job duties.
Overall, this research found that people who described raised psychological stress added more weight if they already had higher body mass indexes (BMI). A related weight-gain practice was not discovered among lower-weight people who were dealing with similar types of stress, as reported in the research.
When grappling with life’s stressful periods, individuals may change their eating behaviors, and this can lead to shifts in weight. Stress induced weight increase is influenced by a person’s gender, what types of foods they eat when they modifiy their eating behaviors, and whether the person is already overweight or obese. These factors have been shown to cause some individuals to gain more weight under stressful circumstances. While others may gain less weight or some times even lose weight under stress.
The study suggested that stress decrease may be an important part of weight-loss programs in the workplace and in clinical and public health programs. In the workplace, admittance to weight-loss programs, flexible work schedules and exercise programs can help stressed-out workers.
“This is one of the first studies to explore the relationship between stress and weight gain,” Block said. “Our findings show that stress should be recognized as a threat to the well-being of adults, especially those who are already overweight.
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