The Untold Relationship Between Stress and Weight Gain

Overview

In my previous article, I covered 15 reasons that stop you from losing weight; one of the reasons I touched on was stressing too much. However, when psychological (i.e., emotional) stress exceeds normal levels, it could even lead to weight gain.

The mechanisms that explain this phenomenon are multifactorial and involve biochemical and behavioral modifications to the body.

In this article, I will explain what happens during chronic psychological stress and how it can precipitate weight gain.

Chronic psychological stress

Throughout your lifetime, you are bound to face challenging moments that trigger psychological stress. The common triggers include the death of a loved one, working in a toxic environment, academic exams, family disputes, and the list goes on and on.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that stress is all bad! On the contrary, we need stress to get motivated and keep chasing after our dreams.

The caveat is that the beneficial type of stress must be temporary and of moderate intensity.

Chronic stress, on the other hand, can last for months and even years, wreaking havoc on every organ system. (1)

Here’s why this happens:

Every day, you read the paper or hear the news about a novel neuroscience discovery that once again demonstrates the beauty of your brain. While these discoveries are fascinating, the brain has several limitations, including the inability to tell the difference between psychological and physical stress. (2)

Simply put, if you work in a toxic environment that’s stressing you for years, the brain turns on the same biochemical responses that get triggered when you are being chased by a lion. In other words, stress hormones will be elevated in your blood, your heart rate accelerates, and some structural modifications occur in the brain.

The primary system that gets activated during stressful times is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is responsible for the ‘fight or flight’ response. Consequently, the levels of stress hormones, such as epinephrine (i.e., adrenaline), norepinephrine (i.e., noradrenaline), and cortisol, skyrocket in the bloodstream. (3)

Each of these hormones works on specific types of receptors scattered all over the body. For instance, norepinephrine will stimulate peripheral blood vessels (those found near the skin) to vasoconstrict (i.e., reduce in diameter) in an attempt to redirect the blood towards the brain, heart, and skeletal muscles.  (4)

On the other hand, epinephrine causes your airways and pupils to dilate. (5)

In summary, stress hormones will mediate various physiological reactions to help you escape from that lion while sacrificing other operations that were deemed unnecessary, such as digestion and urine production.

This, in a nutshell, is why chronic emotional stress is debilitating for the body.

How does stress lead to weight gain

As mentioned above, chronic stress causes weight gain in a variety of ways, including:

1. The over secretion of cortisol

Cortisol is a steroid hormone synthesized by the adrenal glands (two tiny structures located on top of your kidneys) in response to stress.

This hormone is responsible for tempering down inflammation, suppressing the immune system, and promoting certain metabolic pathways. (6) Out of these three functions, the last one is responsible for weight gain when you are chronically stressed.

You see, cortisol will upregulate the breakdown of protein (muscle loss), the production of new glucose molecules (i.e., gluconeogenesis), and the conversion of glucose to fatty acids that get stored in your adipose tissue (e.g., belly, love handles). (7)

All of these metabolic pathways lead to weight gain, especially in the abdomen, neck, and face regions.

2. Eating disorders

As emotional creatures, our behavior is partially controlled by how we feel.

During stressful times, a group of people might stop eating altogether while another will indulge in binge-eating.

For this reason, people who are dealing with psychological stress often gain weight in a subtle yet consistent manner.

Additionally, sugar cravings tend to become more powerful, and healthy dietary choices do not seem like a priority anymore. (8)

3. Sleep disorders

Chronic stress can trigger several sleep disorders (e.g., insomnia, hypersomnia) that mess up your biological clock. (9)

As a result, your hormones will get out of whack, which precipitates weight gain. While the mechanisms involved in this process are still unclear, researchers believe that sleep disorders trigger the release of stress hormones over a long time period, which eventually causes weight gain.

Note that chronic stress can also lead to mental disorders, such as major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, which can present with weight gain as a symptom. (10)

4. Slow basal metabolic rate (BMR)

The basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is an important parameter that estimates the number of calories your organs need per day. This number does not account for physical activity of any sort (even walking).

Over the years, researchers found numerous factors that influence BMR, including age, gender, body type, weight, height, lean muscle mass, degree of physical activity, diet, and genetics. (11)

However, a 2015 study identified another factor that interferes with BMR, which is stress.

More specifically, the intensity of your stress correlates with the speed of your BMR; the more stressed you are, the slower your BMR will be.

Consequently, you will be burning fewer calories per day just because of stress.

5. Reduced physical activity

Another demonstration of our emotion-driven behavior is the lack of physical activity and exercise during stressful times. The last thing you want to think about is going to the gym when you’re stressed, right?

Unfortunately, this habit is one of the most important factors that lead to weight gain, especially when it becomes chronic.

Takeaway message

Chronic psychological stress is an important trigger of weight gain through a variety of reasons that we covered in this article.

Hopefully, we’ve managed to convince you of the potential damage that stress causes to your metabolism, weight, and diet.