How Stress Affects Weight Changes
Stress affects weight change differently for each person.
Some people develop a voracious appetite and rapidly gain weight. And some cannot swallow even a crumb and therefore quickly lose weight.
It all depends on how a particular person reacts to stress.
A distinction is made between adrenaline and cortisol reactions.
Nutritionist Svetlana Merzlikina told how stress affects weight change.
With an adrenaline reaction, a person experiences a feeling of fear. Adrenaline prepares the body for maximum physical exertion and turns off unimportant desires at the moment, including the desire to eat. In the short term, a person's feeling of hunger decreases, he has no desire to eat at all. And he loses weight.
The opposite is true for the cortisol response. Chronic stress requires high energy expenditure.
The easiest way to get energy is from glucose. That's why the appetite for sweets and baked goods often increases, since glucose from these products gets into the bloodstream faster.
Moreover, cortisol blocks signals from leptin, the satiety hormone. As a result, a person does not feel full during stress, overeats and, as a result, gains excess weight. In such situations, he may not even notice how he eats a whole chocolate bar or cake.
Previously, we talked about the differences between a dietitian and a nutritionist.
