Most stress that we experience these days is chronic stress since we no longer need to run from the sabor-toothed tiger. It’s the little stresses that add up. Melanie is a good example. She often spends 10 hours a day in meetings. She is so overscheduled that she sometimes skips breakfast and lunch, and drinks almost no fluids. Then she is starving and dehydrated by the time she gets home. How can you avoid having little stressors become a big stress pile up and overeat at night?
In This week’s blog post I’m sharing a brief excerpt from my new book, Happy Life at a Healthy Weight: Creating a Shame Free, Healthy Relationship with Food and Life to help you consider how chronic stress may interfere with your weight loss success.
Chronic Stress
With chronic stress, our body releases cortisol, which stimulates our appetite. At the same time, our body doesn’t require more caloric energy to fight or flee. Instead, we merely fawn or freeze or these small bumps in the road go unnoticed. This increased hunger easily leads to eating more, storing more fat, and gaining weight.
Chronic disease is common. In the Stress in Americans Survey 2022 conducted by the American Psychological Association, 34 percent of adults reported that stress was “completely overwhelming most days.” The majority, or 76 percent of adult respondents, said that “they have experienced health impacts due to stress in the prior month.” The sources of daily chronic stress may not be recognized. In a February 2023 Harvard Business Review article, “The Hidden Toll of Microstress,” by Rob Cross and Kane Dillon, the authors identified microstresses as the small, invisible, fleeting, stressors that seem like “small bumps in the road.” These microstresses can be as small as taking fifteen minutes to help out a coworker. The authors noted that, “Microstress may be hard to spot individually, but cumulatively they pack an enormous punch.”
During interviews with high performers from thirty global companies, Cross and Dillon discovered that these high performers “were powder kegs of stress” and most of them didn’t realize the extent of their struggles to keep up their work and personal lives. Neither did they realize that it was an accumulation of small events that was leaving them feeling overwhelmed.
These microstresses can accumulate from lack of self-care like not sleeping or getting enough physical activity. Lack of self-care adds to work or financial stresses, and together can lead to burn out and exhaustion. The authors pointed to how microstresses may affect weight. Cross and Dillon shared an example discussed by Lisa Feldman Barrett, distinguished professor of psychology at Northeastern University. Barret noted that in one study when a person experienced social stress within two hours of a meal, this stress added more than one hundred calories to the meal and could contribute to a weight gain of eleven pounds a year.
Overcoming Chronic Stress
Regular practices that elicit a relaxation response can keep micro stressors from accumulating that lead to chronic stress. These regular practices include breathing exercises, meditation, and physical activity. As we’ve shown, chronic stress can lead to overeating, feeling controlled by food, and weight gain. What can you do to overcome the tendency to overeat when stressed? A good place to start is with awareness that your body is trying to protect you. When your brain signals danger, one of your body’s natural responses is increased appetite. In my book we also show you how to address emotional eating that comes from stress with the 5 Steps to Stop Being Controlled by Food.
Click here to find out more about my new book and the inner roadblocks that may be preventing you to lose weight, keep it off, and have a healthy relationship with food and life.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
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