Have that important presentation tomorrow and your boss just won’t stop finding faults in it? Did the baby just keep you up the whole night? Had a huge fight with a family member? These are things that are often very commonly experienced in our life. Stress has many physical, mental and emotional impacts on your system.
Every person is prone to stress in some level of intensity or the other. It is a part of our lives. And sometimes, a little stress can drive you to achieve things as well. But if you let it get out of hand, you might just be inviting some serious long time ill effects to your body.
There can be innumerable causes of stress. It could be your job, your family circumstances or simply the inability to manage time or your work. It can also be caused by sudden prominent changes in that need time getting used to or it could also be dealing with emotions such as anger, sadness, grief or fear.
How does stress hinder weight loss?
- When stressed, your body reacts to it by triggering adrenal responses. This response is called ‘Flight Response’. It leads to muscle loss, increased appetite and fat storage.
- You tend to get a lot of food cravings, in this case, known as emotional hunger. You eat not because you are hungry, but because you are feeling a lot of emotions you don’t know how to deal with.
- If you tend you skip your meals or eat less due to stress, your body might end up holding on to the fat in your body and prevent weight loss.
- Stress can lead to lack of time and poor time management. With less time in your hands, you might not eat very well or healthy. It can lead to poor food choices.
- Ever heard of comfort food? A term very popular in today’s world. When people are sad, they willfully eat their blues away instead of dealing with the problem thus leading to weight gain.
How to minimize stress and avoid weight gain?
Exercise is known to reduce stress, we all know that. But how? It releases these happy hormones called endorphins that improve your mood and relieve stress. Besides, it speeds up your metabolism and curbs cravings, thus leading to prevention of excessive weight gain.
Allot a certain amount of time to prep your meals. We cannot emphasize enough on the little thought you need to give before you make yourself a meal. When you do spend some time on preparing your meals, you will eat healthier foods and a balanced diet. And never, skip meals!
Give yourself some ‘ME’ time, away from all the things that cause you any worry. Read a book or meet some old friends, anything you need to loosen up! Take some time to relax.
Our lives are surrounded by stress. Some of us are even consumed by it. We need to find ways to de-stress every single day in order to remain healthy and avoid unnecessary risks.
