Have you ever noticed that during exams, deadlines, or stressful life events, a salad suddenly sounds much less appealing than a bag of chips or a chocolate bar? You're not imagining it. Chronic stress can change the way our brain and body respond to food, increasing cravings for sugary and fatty "comfort foods.
Chronic Stress, and Comfort Food Cravings
When we initially experience acute (short-term) stress, this event actually causes suppression of appetite. However, when we experience chronic (extended period) stress, our body activates pathways, which in turn increase food intake and preference for 鈥渃omfort foods鈥� which are high in sugar or fat. This leads many of us to grab fatty and sugar-rich foods like chips, cake, and cookies during exam periods, which may help explain the exam-period weight gain some of us experience.
Dallman鈥檚 Chronic Stress-Response Model
One way to explain this is to look at Dallman鈥檚 chronic stress-response model, which proposes that听. The model explains how, when you鈥檙e stressed for a long time, your body uses comfort food as a way to regulate itself and calm itself down. Long-term stress makes your hormone activity increase which pushes you to eat tasty, high-sugar and/or high-fat foods. By eating those high-sugar, high-fat foods, it sends a calm-down signal to your nervous system. This signal dampens hormone activity and reduces perceived stress, leading to you feeling temporarily less stressed. But if this happens a lot or for an extended period of time, it increases your risk of weight gain and metabolic problems. Long-term, this can lead to problems like high blood sugar or cholesterol.
Dopamine, Reward Pathways, and Food Cravings
Let鈥檚 now look a bit into the dopamine, reward circuitry, and cravings relationship. Stress hormones can increase the brain's sensitivity to rewarding foods, making sugary and fatty foods feel even more satisfying than usual.听听and encourages us to repeat pleasurable behaviors. The activation of specific dopamine receptors increases caloric intake and preference for highly palatable foods.
Appetite Hormones and Stress Eating
To better understand this, it is useful to explore听how hormones like ghrelin, leptin, insulin, and other metabolic signals play into this desire for comfort food during periods of stress. Let鈥檚 first look into what each of these hormones is and does.
- Ghrelin: is seen as the hunger hormone. It is released primarily by the stomach when it鈥檚 empty and signals the brain to increase appetite and food intake.
- Leptin: is known as the satiety hormone. It is produced by fat cells and tells the brain that the body has enough energy stored.
- Insulin: helps move glucose from the bloodstream into cells to be used for energy or storage. It also plays a role in promoting fat storage and helps regulate blood sugar levels.
- Cortisol: is known as the primary stress hormone. Having听can increase appetite, cravings for high-fat and high-sugar foods, and fat storage, particularly around the abdominal region.
听Under chronic stress, the听听of insulin and leptin on appetite and other hormone activity becomes dysregulated, contributing to overeating and belly fat accumulation.
What to Do?
While chronic stress can increase cravings for highly palatable foods, it can also contribute to weight gain, elevated blood sugar, and increased cholesterol over time. Understanding that these cravings are driven by biological changes and not simply a lack of willpower can help us make healthier choices. Choosing more nutritious alternatives such as Greek yogurt with dark chocolate chips or apple slices with peanut butter and finding other ways to manage stress like exercise, spending time with loved ones, or taking a walk can support both physical and mental health. By recognizing the connection between stress and food cravings, we can develop healthier coping strategies that benefit us in the long run.
Emma Haccoun Choquette is a student entering U3 Kinesiology at 91黑料网.
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