Table of contents:
- Appetite can fluctuate due to stress
- Bad eating habits that arise due to stress
- The impact of bad eating habits when stressed
Stress is a natural thing and anyone has experienced it. Usually, stress will arise when there are family problems, office work, and the environment. Even so, you have to be smart in managing stress so that it doesn't drag on and ultimately has a bad impact on physical and mental health. One that often becomes an outlet when stressed is food. Many claim that they eat a lot due to stress, but there are also those who eat less. Actually, how, the hell, can stress affect a person's appetite?
Appetite can fluctuate due to stress
Reported on the Harvard Medical School page, when stress occurs, a part of the brain called the hypothalamus releases the hormone corticotropin, which functions to suppress appetite.
The brain also sends a message to the adrenal glands which are above the kidneys to release more of the hormone epinephrine (often known as the hormone adrenaline). This epinephrine helps trigger the body's response to delay eating. This is one stress-food relationship that can happen to anyone.
If the stress continues, or persists, the story will be different again. The adrenal glands release another hormone called cortisol, and this hormone has the effect of increasing appetite and also increasing overall motivation, including motivation to eat.
High levels of the hormone cortisol together with high levels of insulin in the body can ultimately increase the hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin, also known as the "hunger hormone", acts as a signal to the brain to eat and store calories and fat more effectively. Therefore, the increase in this hormone can make it difficult for people to lose weight, the weight can increase.
Conversely, if someone is stressed and then doesn't want to eat, it means that the hormone released during stress suppresses hunger and ultimately decreases appetite. This really depends on how the body responds to the stress that is being experienced. So, it could be that your appetite fluctuates due to stress.
Bad eating habits that arise due to stress
Not only does it make your appetite fluctuate, stress also makes you do a variety of bad eating habits. What are some bad eating habits that result from stress?
- Drinking too much coffee. Feeling a lot of pressure, a stressed person hopes to stay awake so he can finish all his work until it's finished. This is what ultimately makes stressed people also lack time to rest.
- Wrong choice of eating. Some people, because their cortisol levels increase, they will tend to crave foods high in fat, sugar, and salt. As a result, many have potato chips, ice cream or other junk food when under stress. Once ingested, foods containing fat and sugar appear to have a inhibiting effect on activity in the brain that plays a role in producing and processing stress and emotions. This makes foods high in sugar and high in fat what the body is looking for to fight stress at that time.
- Skip eating and drinking. When facing busy and stressful days, people forget to eat, let alone choose healthy eating as a priority. Finally, I miss breakfast, I don't have time to eat lunch because I am still busy, I forget dinner. If you have this, you might not eat in a day. Not only eating, even drinking, you might forget.
The impact of bad eating habits when stressed
The relationship between stress and food will have an impact on various conditions. When you don't eat enough or don't meet the body's needs with the nutrients it needs, blood sugar levels can increase. This increase will cause mood swings, fatigue, decreased concentration, and other negative effects.
In the long term, this condition can lead to hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia that is not handled and managed properly, will cause various long-term complications such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, nerve damage, kidney damage, and others.
Too much caffeine can also cause decreased concentration, low productivity, sleep disturbances, and increased levels of cortisol in the blood.
Poor food choices can also ultimately lower the body's immunity, making it more susceptible to disease. Especially if you only eat foods high in calories but low in nutrients.
A decrease in endurance can also occur when people who are stressed choose not to eat. This decreases his ability to fight disease and inflammation. From this decreased immunity can then spread to various other health conditions.
