Job Stress and Obesity
We've all heard that stress can be harmful to our health, but a new study shows that a stressful job situation contributes to weight gain and obesity. It affects both men and women, which is critical because obesity is linked to so many health complications from heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis and the list goes on.
I think the study helped us realize that weight gain and obesity is more than simply counting calories and fat grams. Yes diet and exercise are important pieces of the puzzle, but we have to finally start to realize that stress is the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off.
Stress triggers our body, specifically our adrenal glands to produce its stress hormones, cortisol, adrenaline, and epinephrine. This is a normal response, but we have to realize that these hormones can throw off our metabolism and takes us out of our fat burning mode.
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The body is designed to burn calories from proteins, carbohydrates or fats. Throughout the day we should be burning calories from fats. Unfortunately when you are constantly under stress, these stress hormones trigger our body to burn calories from carbohydrates and proteins, instead of stored body fats. This is the major reason we have to look at stress and how it affects our ability to lose those unwanted pounds. Please don't think that just because you sweated and burned some calories means you burned calories from stored body fat. Most people who struggle with their weight are constantly burning carbs and proteins for energy, instead of calories from stored body fat.
For the past 25 years we have only focused on how many calories we burn and eat. Our hormones dictate and determine if we are going to burn carbs and proteins versus stored body fat, which is why we need to look at stress. Stress triggers the increased production of adrenaline and cortisol. This in turn triggers the additional production of insulin, which is a known hormone that triggers our body to store fat.
The whole stress and weight gain problem is not just limited to those who have a stressful job. So many of us are constantly on the go and overbooked that we are constantly overworking our adrenal glands and producing too much of our stress hormones. Infomercials have us believing that cortisol is the problem and we need to lower it, but that's not always the case. In fact, when you have been under prolonged stress and you know who you are…your adrenal glands finally reach a point where they can't produce enough of our stress hormones. This is called adrenal exhaustion or fatigue and is at the root of so many health problems.
The real problems are those exhausted and fatigued adrenal glands that have become overworked due to stress. Once we manage the stress in our life and nourish those adrenal glands, we can get our metabolism back to normal and start burning those unwanted calories from stored body fats.
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Dr. Len Lopez is the author of "To Burn or Not to Burn, Fat is the Question" and hosts the radio show "Action Steps for Health. He is a nutrition and fitness expert and speaks extensively on how to "treat the cause – not the symptoms. To learn more about health and healing take the "online health quizzes" or sign up to receive his weekly health journal Health Tips with Dr. Len.
