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Is stress making us fat?

Feeling pressured, tense, or under the gun, most of us have at one dived into the nearest bag of sweets or bottle of wine, or – if things are really going bad – both. But, says Dr Pamela Peeke, assistant clinical professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and author of Fight Fat After Forty (Piatkus; £12.99), comfort eating during stressful moments – which tend to be many – is one of the main reasons our waistlines expand.

According to Professor Peeke, Whenever we’re angry, scared, anxious, or tense, the brain produces cortisol and adrenaline: hormones specifically designed to incite the fight-or-flight response that was once crucial to our survival. ‘Adrenaline’s main role is to make you alert and focused, with exceptional concentration and memory,’ says Peeke. She adds that cortisol also helps increase heart and respiratory rates and getting your muscles tensed and ready.

While those physiological processes worked well for our prehistoric ancestors, they’re not as useful in a world where physical dangers are few. The trouble is, whenever we’re stressed – when a colleague dumps a load of extra work on you, when the baby is screaming incessantly, when your partner forgets to run a vital errand – these hormones are released into your system. Though adrenaline levels plummet as the stress subsides, cortisol remains in the body much longer. Since, physiologically speaking, your body thinks you’ve run a mile or two or done something active in response to the ‘threat’, the hormone sends signals to refuel the body as soon as possible. It’s a biological green light to indulge in foods loaded with carbs and fat that leads to weight gain in the chronically stressed. It’s a vicious cycle of stress, followed by elevated cortisol, followed by that scone you don’t need.

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