The Impact Of Stress On Weight And Strategies For Stress Management

April 19, 2024

In today’s fast moving world, stress has become an integral part of our daily life. There can be many reasons for causing stress such as workload at office, stressed because of your studies, relationship issues or it can be because of financial problems. Stress is the psychological strain that give rise to many other medical conditions in a human’s body. Stress can also be a hindrance in your weight loss journey. In this blog we will discuss stress, its effects on weight management and strategies for stress management.

Know About Stress

Before knowing about the intricate relationship between stress and weight gain we need to know about stress. Stress can be defined as the feeling of emotional, physical or mental strain. Everyone experience stress at some degree in their daily life, however your response to that stress makes the difference.

Types Of Stress

There are mainly two type of stress acute and chronic.

Acute Stress: This is the type of stress a short term stress which can come suddenly and goes away quickly.
Chronic Stress: This type of stress lasts for a longer period of time and can affect your overall health.

Symptoms

There are many symptoms of stress which we may not recognise as it is the result of stress. Some of them are listed below.

Diarrhoea or Constipation: Some may experience tight stools or loose or watery stools when extremely stressed.
Forgetfulness: people with chronic stress often forget things and tasks easily.
Headaches: Frequent headaches are very common in this condition. Some may even suffer from unconsciousness.
Lack of Energy: Extreme stress can lower down your energy levels and also restrict you on focussing on your daily tasks.
Tiredness: A constant feeling of tiredness is a very common symptom among people with chronic stress.
Weight Loss or Gain: Some people may experience a sudden weight loss or extreme weight gain while suffering from extreme stress.

The Connection Between Stress And Weight Gain

There can be many reasons for extra kilos that you have gained suddenly. One of them is stress. You might be surprised to know that there is a very intricate relationship between stress and weight gain. Did you ever wonder why you crave junk food? While you are menstruating, overworked or just stressed over your break-up. This is all because of the stress. Stress creates a hormonal misbalance, resulting in release of stress hormone cortisol and an increase in blood sugar level and blood insulin levels which causes us to crave for food high in calorie, fat and sugar.

Not only increase in food cravings stress also contributes in many physical and mental challenges and changes in our body. It slows down the metabolism resulting in slower fat burning. Stress can also lower your- self regulation making it harder to exercise physical work and maintain healthy habits. It can also cause sleep disorders such as insomnia.

How To Manage Stress

As stress can be one of the major reason for gaining excessive weight and other health issues, it is necessary to manage stress levels in a proper manner. Mentioned below are some stress management tips to control stress level.

Exercise: Physical activity can be a great stress reliever. Regular exercise can help you to lift up your mood and reduce stress by stimulating the production of natural mood lifters such as endorphins and neurotransmitters and reduce the production of stress hormones such as cortisol.
Healthy Diet: While we crave eating junk when we are extremely stressed, we should refrain from doing so. Eating a healthy balance diet in this condition can also help in reducing stress levels and this is also helpful in maintaining healthy weight.
Meditation: Meditation is a practice that focuses on clearing your mind and gives a sense of calmness. Meditation is a great stress buster. It calms your stressed mind and improves sleep.
Recreation: Modern day routines are very fast moving and hectic. Taking a break from your daily routine and engaging yourself with recreational activities like swimming, cycling, picnic with family or going for a day out can help you in getting rid of daily stress.
Medications: There are several medicines in the market which can help in healthy stress management such as antidepressants and beta blockers. But these medicines should only be taken with expert’s advice.

Weight Loss Tips

Stress management can be a great help in weight management. But for loosing that stubborn fat you need to put on some more efforts with managing stress levels. Here are some common weight loss tips to help you in your weight loss journey.

Exercise: Regular exercise not only helps in stress management but it can also helpful in healthy weight management.
Plenty of sleep: Getting plenty of sleep can help in relaxing our muscles and mind. It also helps in relieving stress which is beneficial for losing weight.
Hydration: drinking plenty of water is necessary for hydration of your body and also helps to lose weight quickly.
Eat healthy: Swiping your junk foods with healthy snacks can help you to get rid of those extra kilos.

These are some common weight loss tips to maintain healthy weigh other than that you ayurvedic medicine for weight loss such as slimo weight loss capsule can also help you in weight management. This capsule is made up of natural ingredients like green coffee beans which helps you to reduce weight by supressing your junk cravings and also maintains your energy levels throughout the day. This most healthy and hassle free way to reduce fat.

Conclusion

Stress is a part of our modern busy lifestyle which we can’t avoid neither we can deny the harmful effects it leaves on our weight and overall health. Chronic stress can affect hormonal balance, increase appetite, promote fat storage and disrupt metabolic functioning, resulting in gaining excessive weight. However you can manage stress by adapting stress management strategies like exercise, meditation, healthy diet, recreation and medications which can help you in management of stress and healthy weight.