2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
Stress comes from eating
About two-thirds of people under stress start eating more, while the rest, on the contrary, lose their appetite. But what does it depend on?
First of all, from the stage of stress and the ratio of the concentration in the blood of two hormones - CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone) and glucocorticoids, which act in the opposite way on appetite. CRH reduces appetite, and glucocorticoids increase.
The effect of CRH appears after a few seconds of exposure to the stressor, and glucocorticoids - after a few minutes or even hours. And when stress is over, CRH levels also drop rapidly (within a few seconds), while glucocorticoid levels take longer (often up to several hours) to decrease. In other words, if there is a lot of CRH in the blood, but not enough glucocorticoids, then this means that stress has just begun. And if on the contrary, the body is already beginning to recover from stress.
If stress has just begun, then the hormone CRH, which suppresses appetite, predominates in the blood. As a rule, in an acute period of stress, we are least likely to think about the upcoming delicious lunch. The concentration of glucocorticoids in the blood during this period is not yet high.
Glucocorticoids, on the other hand, stimulate appetite, but not for any food, namely starchy, sugary and fatty foods. This is why, during times of stress, we are drawn to fast-filling foods (sweets, chips, fast food, etc.), and not to carrots or apples. If intermittent psychological stressors are observed during the working day, then this leads to frequent jumps in CRH and constantly elevated levels of glucocorticoids. And this, in turn, causes the need to constantly chew something. Imagine a person who every morning jumps to the alarm clock, then rushes to transport or stands in a traffic jam, fearing to be late for work, then during the day he encounters other stressors (the boss noticed a delay, constant monitoring of the quality of work and discipline, suddenly arising tasks "on yesterday”, etc.). As a result, such a person will describe his condition as "I am stressed all the time", gnawing at his feelings with another pack of crackers.
But, of course, not everyone will act this way. This is partly determined by a person's attitude to food. For example, when food is not a means of satisfying hunger, but is needed to satisfy emotional needs. Research also shows that stress is more likely to increase appetite in those who are prone to eating restrictions and frequent diets.
Apple people and pear people
Glucocorticoids not only increase appetite, but also stimulate fat cells to store nutrients. An interesting and still not fully understood fact remains that not all fat cells are equally sensitive to the action of glucocorticoids. These hormones primarily stimulate the fat cells of the abdomen, causing apple-type obesity. Those. there is an accumulation of the so-called visceral fat located around the abdomen. The "apple people" have a waist volume greater than the hip volume (the ratio of the waist circumference to the hip circumference is more than one).
"Pear people", on the contrary, have wider hips (the ratio of waist to hip circumference is less than one). The latter are dominated by "gluteal" fat located in the buttocks and thighs. Thus, abdominal fat cells are more sensitive to glucocorticoids than gluteal fat cells. Therefore, people who tend to produce more glucocorticoids during stress tend not only to increase their appetite after stress, but also to accumulate fat like an "apple".
Even monkeys have an apple-like fat accumulation. Those individuals who have a lower position in the hierarchy and who are more likely to face humiliation from higher-status individuals, there is an increase in body fat in the abdomen. Also, a similar type of obesity is observed in high-status individuals who are afraid of losing their status, as a result of which they are less friendly and behave more aggressively. Therefore, the everyday expression "This is not my stomach, but a bundle of nerves" to some extent makes sense.
The bad news is that people with a pronounced "apple" figure have a higher risk of metabolic disorders, the development of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases than people with "pears".
But there is more optimistic news: the increased production of glucocorticoids is associated not only with the physiological characteristics of the body and the effect of numerous stresses, but also with our attitude towards them. This means that we can, to some extent, influence both the stressfulness of our life and the attitude towards these stressors, especially psychological ones. But we'll talk about this and other ways to manage stress in the following articles.
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