Summary: According to a new study that examined 58 women, stress can play a role in our metabolism and largely affect how we gain or lose weight.
Stress can largely affect how we gain or lose weight.
According to a new study that examined 58 women, stress can play a role in our metabolism and largely affect how we gain or lose weight.The study was based on an experiment where the 58 women were given the same meal at the same time. The only difference was that some of the women had been stressed during the previous day while the others were not.
The experiment revealed that, seven hours later, the women who were stressed burned 104 less calories than the other subjects. Researchers reported that the women who were under stress also had higher levels of insulin, the hormone that promotes the storage of fat.
Over time, stress can contribute to weight gain. An increase of 104 calories with every meal can amount to about 6 kilograms of excess weight each year.
The link between stress and weight gain is not clear, but other studies have shown how our mood affects our eating habits. Emotional eating is a large contributor to overweight. When we are upset, stressed, or angry, we tend to resort to food for comfort.
This is why one of the authors of the study suggested a way to prevent weight gain due to stress. We can’t escape stress in our lives, so we have to stop ourselves from eating unhealthy foods when we become stressed. This is why we should always have healthy food choices in our refrigerators, so that when we reach for comfort food, we aren’t tempted by fatty foods.
