استرس و اضافه وزن Stress Can Cause Weight Gain

Stress can significantly impact your ability to maintain a healthy weight. It can also prevent you from losing weight. Whether it's the result of high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, unhealthy stress-induced behaviors, or a combination of the two, the link between stress and weight gain is glaring.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including metabolism and the immune response. It also has a very important role in helping the body respond to stress.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone, one of the glucocorticoids, made in the cortex of the adrenal glands and then released into the blood, which transports it all round the body. Almost every cell contains receptors for cortisol and so cortisol can have lots of different actions depending on which sort of cells it is acting upon.

These effects include controlling the body’s blood sugar levels and thus regulating metabolism, acting as an anti-inflammatory, influencing memory formation, controlling salt and water balance, influencing blood pressure and helping development of the foetus. In many species cortisol is also responsible for triggering the processes involved in giving birth.

Researchers have long known that rises in the stress hormone cortisol can lead to weight gain. Every time you're stressed, your adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol, and as a result, glucose (your primary source of energy) is released into your bloodstream. All of this is done to give you the energy you need to escape from a risky situation (also known as the fight or flight response).

Cortisol and Sugar Cravings eResearch by Navid Ajamin -- summer 2023

Cue the sugar cravings. Because sugar supplies your body with the quick energy it thinks it needs, it's often the first thing you reach for when you're stressed.

Cortisol and Metabolism

Even if you aren't eating foods high in fat and sugar, cortisol also slows down your metabolism, making it difficult to lose weight.

Too much cortisol over a prolonged period of time can lead to a condition called Cushing's syndrome. This can be caused by a wide range of factors, such as a tumour that produces adrenocorticotropic hormone (and therefore increases cortisol secretion), or taking certain types of drugs. The symptoms include:

• rapid weight gain mainly in the face, chest and abdomen contrasted with slender arms and legs
• a flushed and round face
• high blood pressure
• osteoporosis
• skin changes (bruises and purple stretch marks)
• muscle weakness
• mood swings, which show as anxiety, depression or irritability
• increased thirst and frequency of urination.

High cortisol levels over a prolonged time can also cause lack of sex drive and, in women, periods can become irregular, less frequent or stop altogether (amenorrhoea).

In addition, there has been a long-standing association between raised or impaired regulation of cortisol levels and a number of psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression. However, the significance of this is not yet clearly understood.

Reference:

• verywellmind.com/how-stress-can-cause-weight-gain-3145088
• yourhormones.info/hormones/cortisol