Stress eating? This is why it happens and How to Stop It!

Last Updated on April 10, 2021

It doesn’t matter if it’s because of professional reasons or personal ones. The fact is that anyone can be affected by stress! Stress is a body response to external events that can change your behavior. For example, stress can make you work faster and sharpen your mind when a deadline is coming to an end or the contrary, make it impossible for you to deal with a situation. What you should know is that stress can affect your hormones, increasing the production of some and lowering the production of others. One of those hormones that get affected is cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone responsible for suppressing your appetite, but it can have the opposite effect if it’s chronically elevated. This means that excessive stress can lead to stress eating or what is known as overeating. The latter will eventually lead to weight gain and other diseases you don’t want to develop. So, if you’re feeling stressed, keep reading as I’ll tell you why stress can make you overeat and will also point out some tips to stop it.

1.Signs You Are Stress Eating

Overeating due to stress? Calm down, you’re definitely not the only one that overeats as a stress response. In fact, a survey from the American Psychological Society found that 42% of the people inquired said they use food as stress relief. This is why, in the U.S, chronic stress and overeating are considered as something epidemic! So, would you like to know some red flags that you’re overeating because of stress?

• If you’re not hungry, but you still eat.
• If anything wrong is happening in your life, you take shelter on food.
• If you want to feel better, you eat a snack… or two.
• If you’re stressed, the first thing you think about is to eat something to make it disappear.
• If your stress levels are up the roof, you just can’t stay away from food.

Now, if you do these things only from time to time, you don’t have to worry about it, since we all need “comfort food” every now and then. But if you consistently have these behaviors, if your life is controlled by urges of eating something, if you wake up and go to bed thinking about food, then you have a problem. A serious problem that can put your life at risk!