Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsStress and CortisolStress-Induced HabitsHow to Break the CycleNext in How Stress Impacts Your Health Guide18 Effective Stress Relief Strategies
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Table of Contents
Stress and Cortisol
Stress-Induced Habits
How to Break the Cycle
Next in How Stress Impacts Your Health Guide
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Stress can significantly impact your ability to maintain a healthy weight. It can also prevent you from losing weight. Whether it’s the result of high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, unhealthy stress-induced behaviors, or a combination of the two, the link between stress and weight gain is glaring.Self-care strategies like mindfulness, journaling, and exercise can help you fight stress and the unwanted effect it can have on your eating habits.
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
The Link Between Stress and Cortisol
Researchers have long known that rises in thestress hormone cortisolcan lead to weight gain. Every time you’re stressed, your adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol, and as a result, glucose (your primary source of energy) is released into your bloodstream. All of this is done to give you the energy you need to escape from a risky situation (also known as thefight or flight response).
Once the threat has subsided, your adrenaline high wears off and your blood sugar spike drops. This is when cortisol kicks into high gear to replenish your energy supply quickly.
2:04Watch Now: 5 Ways Stress Can Cause Weight Gain
2:04
Watch Now: 5 Ways Stress Can Cause Weight Gain
Cortisol and Sugar Cravings
Cue the sugar cravings. Because sugar supplies your body with the quick energy it thinks it needs, it’s often the first thing you reach for when you’re stressed.
The downside to consuming so much sugar is that your body tends to store sugar, especially after stressful situations. This energy is stored mainly in the form of abdominal fat, which can be particularly hard to shed.
And so the vicious cycle starts: get stressed, release cortisol, gain weight, crave more sugar, eat more sugar, gain more weight.
Cortisol and Metabolism
Even if you aren’t eating foods high in fat and sugar, cortisol also slows down your metabolism, making it difficult to lose weight.
In 2015, researchers from Ohio State University interviewed women about the stress they had experienced the previous day before feeding them a high-fat, high-calorie meal. After finishing the meal, scientists measured the women’s metabolic rates (the rate at which they burned calories and fat) and examined their blood sugar,cholesterol, insulin, and cortisol levels.
The researchers found that, on average, women who reported one or more stressors during the prior 24 hours burned 104 fewer calories than non-stressed women.This could result in an 11-pound weight gain in one year. Stressed women also had higher insulin levels, a hormone that contributes to fat storage.
Stress-Induced Unhealthy Habits
In addition to the hormonal changes related to stress, stress can also drive you to engage in the following unhealthy behaviors, all of which can cause weight gain:
How to Break the Cycle of Stress and Weight Gain
A Word From Verywell
If your stress and/or stress-related weight gain is causing you distress or making it unmanageable to fulfill daily responsibilities, it may be time to seek professional health. Psychotherapy, and in particularcognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can be very helpful in teaching coping skills to better manage stress and weight.
8 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Block JP, He Y, Zaslavsky AM, Ding L, Ayanian JZ.Psychosocial stress and change in weight among US adults.Am J Epidemiol. 2009;170(2):181–192. doi:10.1093/aje/kwp104Goldstein DS.Adrenal responses to stress.Cell Mol Neurobiol. 2010;30(8):1433–1440. doi:10.1007/s10571-010-9606-9Yau YH, Potenza MN.Stress and eating behaviors.Minerva Endocrinol. 2013;38(3):255–267.Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Habash DL, Fagundes CP, Andridge R, Peng J, Malarkey WB & Belury MA.Daily stressors, past depression, and metabolic responses to high-fat meals: A novel path to obesity.Biol Psychiatry. 2015; 77(7):653–660. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.05.018Leow S, Jackson B, Alderson JA, Guelfi KJ & Dimmock JA.A role for exercise in attenuating unhealthy food consumption in response to stress.Nutrients. 2018; 10(2):176. doi:10.3390/nu10020176Wagner HS, Ahlstrom B, Redden JP, Vickers Z, Mann T.The myth of comfort food.Health Psychol. 2014;33(12):1552-1557. doi:10.1037/hea0000068Daubenmier J, Kristeller J, Hecht FM, et al.Mindfulness intervention for stress eating to reduce cortisol and abdominal fat among overweight and obese women: An exploratory randomized controlled study.J Obes. 2011;2011:651936. doi:10.1155/2011/651936Burke LE, Wang J, Sevick MA.Self-monitoring in weight loss: A systematic review of the literature.J Am Diet Assoc. 2011;111(1):92-102. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2010.10.008
Block JP, He Y, Zaslavsky AM, Ding L, Ayanian JZ.Psychosocial stress and change in weight among US adults.Am J Epidemiol. 2009;170(2):181–192. doi:10.1093/aje/kwp104
Goldstein DS.Adrenal responses to stress.Cell Mol Neurobiol. 2010;30(8):1433–1440. doi:10.1007/s10571-010-9606-9
Yau YH, Potenza MN.Stress and eating behaviors.Minerva Endocrinol. 2013;38(3):255–267.
Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Habash DL, Fagundes CP, Andridge R, Peng J, Malarkey WB & Belury MA.Daily stressors, past depression, and metabolic responses to high-fat meals: A novel path to obesity.Biol Psychiatry. 2015; 77(7):653–660. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.05.018
Leow S, Jackson B, Alderson JA, Guelfi KJ & Dimmock JA.A role for exercise in attenuating unhealthy food consumption in response to stress.Nutrients. 2018; 10(2):176. doi:10.3390/nu10020176
Wagner HS, Ahlstrom B, Redden JP, Vickers Z, Mann T.The myth of comfort food.Health Psychol. 2014;33(12):1552-1557. doi:10.1037/hea0000068
Daubenmier J, Kristeller J, Hecht FM, et al.Mindfulness intervention for stress eating to reduce cortisol and abdominal fat among overweight and obese women: An exploratory randomized controlled study.J Obes. 2011;2011:651936. doi:10.1155/2011/651936
Burke LE, Wang J, Sevick MA.Self-monitoring in weight loss: A systematic review of the literature.J Am Diet Assoc. 2011;111(1):92-102. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2010.10.008
Cedernaes J, Schönke M, Westholm JO, et al.Acute sleep loss results in tissue-specific alterations in genome-wide DNA methylation state and metabolic fuel utilization in humans.Sci Adv. 2018;4(8):eaar8590. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aar8590
Haidar SA, de Vries NK, Karavetian M, El-Rassi R.Stress, anxiety, and weight gain among university and college students: A systematic review.J Acad Nutr Diet. 2018;118(2):261-274. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2017.10.015
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