Understanding The Connection Between Eating And Stress
Picture this: You have a big test coming up at school, or a major work deadline looming ahead of you. Your mind is racing, and you feel anxious, jittery, and tense. You get home and can’t resist the urge to eat as a way to cope with these challenging emotions. A whole bag of potato chips later, you only feel worse than you did before.
If this scenario sounds familiar, you may have experienced emotional eating, or using food to cope with stress. Why do people tend to eat unhealthy foods when stressed? The answer may lie in our biology. Long-term stress usually results in increased levels of cortisol, which can lead to increased appetite. In addition, stress can spike ghrelin, a hormone related to hunger cues. To address stress eating, it can be helpful to manage any underlying stress and practice mindful eating. A licensed therapist can help you throughout this process.
What is stress?
Many people experience stress occasionally. If you’ve ever faced a challenging situation and noticed yourself becoming tense, agitated, or emotional, then you might be familiar with this experience.
Stress can be seen as a natural response to situations that your brain perceives as dangerous. When you’re exposed to a source of stress (also known as a “stressor”), your amygdala typically starts a series of reactions in your body. The amygdala is a structure in the brain that normally plays a role in interpreting information from your five senses.
In general, when your amygdala senses danger, your nervous system activates, causing what’s known as the “fight-or-flight response.” You might experience symptoms like the following:
- A rapid heartbeat
- Shallow, rapid breathing
- Tense muscles
- A rush of adrenaline
- Sharper senses
- Trembling or jitteriness
- A sense of alertness
The stress response can protect you by preparing your body to react to dangerous situations. However, you may also experience stress responses in situations that aren’t actually dangerous. For example, it can be common to experience stress before a major work project, a doctor’s appointment, or a public speaking event. When stress continues over a long period, it’s often referred to as “chronic stress.”
Eating and stress: What’s the connection?
Overeating or binging on unhealthy foods when you’re going through a stressful time is commonly known as “stress eating.” Sometimes, this behavior is also called “emotional eating,” and it can happen when you use food to relieve stress. When stress is extremely severe, you might even find it hard to control your eating. This can be frustrating, but there may be a scientific reason for this behavior.
According to the Harvard Medical School, short-term stress can reduce appetite. Adrenaline, one of the hormones the body usually releases as part of the fight-or-flight response, can reduce the urge to eat. However, when stress continues long-term, another hormone, cortisol, may also be released. Over time, elevated cortisol levels can increase appetite. Studies have found that, in addition to eating more food, animals under stress also tend to seek out foods that are high in fat and sugar.
Other hormones may contribute to stress-related eating. In a 2021 research analysis, researchers looked at data from 10 studies of 348 participants. They found that short-term stress can lead to spikes in levels of ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone that normally plays a role in appetite and food-seeking behavior. Gut hormone responses like these may help explain why stress has been linked to weight gain.
The consequences of emotional eating
On the surface, eating might seem like a harmless method of managing stress. However, chronic meal and stress challenges may have negative impacts on mental and physical health. A 2017 research summary notes that stress may play a role in obesity and weight management issues.
According to the American Psychological Association, as of 2013, 27% of adults in America reported engaging in unhealthy stress-related eating behaviors. (Note that mental health research is always evolving, and some older studies and surveys may have been reevaluated since their original publication.) Of those who reported overeating or eating unhealthy foods due to stress:
- 49% reported feeling disappointed in themselves afterward
- 46% reported feeling bad about their bodies
- 36% reported feeling sluggish or lazy
Feelings like these may contribute to body image issues and unhealthy eating patterns. Some researchers have proposed that stress may even play a role in eating disorders, such as binge eating disorder, anorexia, and bulimia.
Managing stress eating
Practicing healthy eating habits can be challenging, even when you’re not stressed. When you are stressed, you might find healthy eating even more difficult. Still, there may be ways to improve your eating habits when you’re facing high levels of stress. Mindful eating may be one example. Eating mindfully generally means using all of your senses and attention to enjoy your food. This practice relates to the broader idea of mindfulness, which typically revolves around being fully present in the moment.
- Pay careful attention to the taste, color, smell, and texture of your food as you eat it.
- Take pauses between bites to notice how your body responds.
- Put all your attention on the current bite of food. Avoid preparing your next bite before you’ve finished the one you’re chewing.
- Avoid eating while working, watching TV, or surfing the internet.
- Be aware of the sensations in your body before, during, and after your meal. When do you start noticing a sense of fullness? What are your body’s hunger cues telling you?
Eating more mindfully may be a useful first step toward improving your relationship with food and stress. That said, if chronic stress is affecting your physical or mental well-being, you may want to talk to a mental health professional. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which usually focuses on reframing thoughts and beliefs to be more helpful, is recognized for its effectiveness in treating eating disorders.
According to a literature review from 2021, CBT may also be effective in managing stress-related disorders.
That said, accessing affordable therapy can sometimes be difficult. According to Mental Health America, as of 2023, the majority of adults with an unmet mental healthcare need didn’t receive treatment due to cost.
With online therapy on BetterHelp, you can receive live therapy from your own home, with plans starting at $65 per week. This may be more affordable than in-person therapy without insurance, and can also offer increased flexibility and convenience.
Studies show that online therapy can be an effective treatment for disordered eating. In a 2022 study, a group of patients with past or ongoing eating disorders received internet-based CBT. In general, they saw significant reductions in eating disorder symptoms. Their results were maintained at a three-month follow-up.
Takeaway
- Previous Article
- Next Article