Interrelation Between Obesity and Stress - Term Paper Example

?Obesity and Stress Introduction Stress is any kind of change that results in emotional, physical or psychological strain. All types of stress are harmful and most are linked to other health problems like cancer, cardiovascular disease, ulcers, sexual dysfunction, obesity, and conditions of the nervous system like depression and obsession. It is almost common knowledge that stress, either constant or quick, can induce risky body and mind disorders. Immediate disorders include nervousness, anxiety, tension, dizzy spells and sleeplessness. Generally, stress leads to a state of over-activated (ANS) autonomic nervous system as the body tries to react to a perceived state of danger. Scott (2011) explains that when this situation is combined with chronic stress, it leads to physical manifestations like mild frequent headaches, muscle cramps and susceptibility to cold. In relation to this, cortisol released during stress may suppress the immune response of the body and in the long run, continued exposure to chronic stress weakens the body’s immunity, and result to serious and chronic health problems. There are a number of physiological and chemical processes affected by stress resulting to obesity. According to Thompson (2009), stress has been linked to a number of biological alterations that can trigger cravings and this inappropriate eating leads to weight gaining and eventually obesity. It is common for stressed people to crave for comfort foods that contain high fat or sugar contents. These are fattening foods and there are particular hormones that play active roles in the process. These are seroptin, cortisol and neuropeptide Y. When stressed persons reach out for fattening foods, it raises their seroptin levels, the body’s feel-good chemical. This makes them feel better and encourages them to eat more of fattening foods. Neuropeptide Y is a chemical molecule released from the nerve cells under stress conditions and it has been found to encourage fat accumulation. Chronic stress can make the body to release excessive levels of cortisol, an hormone that is important in managing energy use and fat storage in the body. This hormone increases appetite and is also found to encourage craving for fatty or sugary food. This further promotes the production of neuropeptide Y. Stressed individuals may also forget to eat meals at right times and when they get too hungry, they will reach out for anything near. Evidence. Although physical inactivity has been largely blamed for obesity, numerous studies have equally blamed stress for this. One such study is one conducted by researchers from University of Rochester Medical Center. The study involved 2,782 employees of a large manufacturing company in New York. The responses received indicated some workers do not take sufficient time to eat well or do physical exercise at lunch because of fearing the potential consequences of leaving their desks for long. Because of this, they would depend on snacks high in calories and fats (Fernandez et al 2010). The responses received also indicated that after a day of stressful work, meetings or spending time before the computer, most of the employees rushed home to spend time watching TV. 65% of those who watched TV for an hour were obese and among those who watched tor 2-3 hours, 77% were obese. This figures increased by 150% among those who watched TV for 4 or more hours. In total, 72-75% of the company employees were obese (Fernandez et al 2010). Generally, the study links stress to consumption of foods high in fat and sugar content and TV watching, which further promotes obesity. Other studies have revealed that adults tend to eat fatty foods as they watch TV and this is aggravated by exposure to food adverts which triggers craving for food (Hu et al, 2003). Although the study involved employees of one firm, the results are applicable to many workplaces where demanding work, lack of control at work or layoffs are major concerns. One of the common feature of obese people is big tummies and a study carried out by a group of researchers from the Departments of Biomedical and Engineering Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati explains this and how it is linked to stress. According to these researchers, daily stress can result to metabolic changes which in the long run result to obesity. In this research, rats were housed individually for three weeks and their eating patterns observed. They were then exposed to stress equivalent to what humans experience daily and their food intake and eating patterns monitored. This was achieved by rearranging them to groups of two females and four males. Within a few days, an hierarchy was observed in all colonies where one male became dominated and the other three became subordinate (Melhorn et al, 2010). During this high stress period, both the dominant and subordinate rats reduced their food intake compared to the control group but the dominant ones recovered their initial daily intake after the hierarchy had been well established. On the other hand, the subordinate rats continued to reduce their daily intake by reducing the number of their meals. They also changed their circadian behavior by eating more during lighted periods. After two weeks, the male rats were all housed separately in a three-week recovery period and were allowed to eat freely. Results indicate that all the male rates overate but in different styles. The dominant ones ate more frequently and therefore their weight and lean mass increased. Contrarily, the subordinate ones ate less frequently but ate larger meals. This made them to gain significant fat quantities in the belly/visceral region. The dominant males recovered from over eating by the end of the recovery period but the subordinate ones continued to overeat by eating larger meals but less frequently. This indicates they experienced long-term and harmful metabolic alterations. The study therefore shows that during and after stress periods, people consume large meals although less frequently and the typical outcome of this is weight gain especially in the viscera region/abdomen (Melhorn et al, 2010). This is as a result of the stress-induced long-term and harmful metabolic alterations. Results of another study led by the UT Southwestern Medical Center support the link between stress and high intake of fattening food which in turn results to increased body weight. The study explains why stressed people indulge in mashed potatoes, chocolate, ice cream and other comfort foods rich in high calorie and fat. In this study, wild-type mice were exposed to bully mice, a laboratory technique that triggers social stress. After some time, the wild-type mice started moving towards a chamber where they had been trained to find fatty pleasurable food, an equivalent of comfort food (Chuang et al, 2011). The results indicate that ghrelin signaling is important to the food-reward behaviors witnessed during stress because its level increases as a result of chronic stress. On their part, genetically engineered mice exposed to the same stress conditions did not develop a preference to comfort foods and neither did they eat as much of this as their wild-type counterparts. The researchers explain that unlike wild-types, GE rats were not able to respond to respond to the stress-induced rise in ghrelin and thus they acted as a control group (Chuang et al, 2011). The findings of this study suggest that chronic stress causes ghrelin levels to rise and this in turn lowers anxiety and depression. However, its side effect is that it increases food intake and thus it results to increased body weight. The results are trustworthy. Although mice were used, the study is relevant to human beings because mice have been approved as efficient models for studying depression and stress, and the effects of chronic depression and stress on human beings. However, the study should be extended to determine the area of the brain that this chemical acts ob to cause the antidepressant-like effects and to produce the food-reward behaviors. Discussion and Summary Stress generally results to altered eating patterns and production of hormones that stimulate increased food intake, fat accumulation and increased craving for fattening foods. This means that stress management and stress reduction techniques could help reduce the incidence or severity of obesity in various ways. These techniques will also reduce the production of hormones that increase craving for fattening food like ghrelin and cortisone as well as related hormones like Neuropeptide Y which encourages fat accumulation. Secondly, managing stress will lower the tendency to eat more frequently because it shifts the attention of the individual to other important things. This results to the maintenance of healthy eating habits whose result is gradual increase in lean body mass instead of fat accumulation in the abdomen. Physical exercises are one of the stress management and stress reduction techniques. Physical activities reduce resilience to stress. In addition, they generate improved mood states, improve sleep and reduce anxiety which is important in improving a persons psychological health. Improved mental condition in turn will help the affected person not to forget meals and thus eliminate the dependency on fattening food as immediate remedy to excessive hunger. Some of the stress management and reduction techniques will eliminate the perceived threats and stop the unconscious body reactions towards the same for example like assurance of job security to survivors of retrenchment. Evidently, the link between stress and obesity is self-reinforcing because weight gain can cause even more stress thus managing stress will lower weight which in turn reduces stress further. Finally, improved work conditions will ensure employees have sufficient time for taking healthy lunches or going for a walk across several streets and eliminate the habit rushing home to watch TV. References Chuang et al (2011). “Ghrelin mediates stress-induced food-reward behavior in mice.” Journal of Clinical Investigation. (8) pp 3094-3099. Fernandez, I. Su, H. Winters, P. and Liang, H. (2010). “Association of workplace chronic and acute stressors with employee weight status: data from worksites in turmoil.” The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. (1) pp 34-41. Hu, F. et al ( 2003). “Television watching and other sedentary behaviors in relation to risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in women.” Journal of American Medical Association. (14) pp 1785-1791. Melhorn, S. et al. (2010). “Chronic Social Stress Linked to Obesity: Meal patterns and hypothalamic NPY expression during chronic social stress and recovery.” American Journal of Physiology, a Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. (3) pp 813-822. Scott, E. (2011). “Stress and Health Stress: How It Affects Your Body, and How You Can Stay Healthier.” Online: http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/stresshealth.htm. Viewed on 9th February, 2012. Thompson, D. (2009) “The Link between Obesity and Stress.” EverydayHealth. Online: http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/food-and-mood/stress-and-dieting/stress-and-other-causes-of-obesity.aspx. Viewed on 9th February, 2012. Read More