18 Years of Experience in Psychiatry Acupuncture and Micronutrients
Stress is any change in your normal routine or health. Stress occurs when bad things happen, as well as happy things. Getting a raise or promotion is stress, just as getting fired from your job is stress. Speculative changes cause just as much stress as veritable changes. Pensiveness or anguish about whether you will get that new job is stress the same as being offered a new position is stress. Often people use food to comfort themselves, relieve stress and have something to do when they're bored or sad. Many people mistakenly use food to accommodate certain basic needs, such as getting rest, expressing feelings, being intellectually stimulated and receiving comfort. Food isn't going to supply any of that. While many people use food in response to emotions like anger, frustration, loneliness and sadness, stress is felt to be the main cause of emotional eating.
Imagine that it is mid-morning and you encounter unexpected stress. Your boss e-mails you about a huge accounting error you've made, or your pediatrician calls to tell you your 6-year-old's lab results are abnormal. Your body goes into fight-or-flight mode. During a fight-or-flight reaction, your cells demand sugar for fuel -- and quickly. Unfortunately, on this particular morning, you skipped breakfast, and supper the night before was ice cream and a diet Coke.
You have a minimal amount of circulating blood sugar available to handle your stressful event. So, your liver releases part of its stockpile of stored blood sugar. When the stressful event is over, your blood sugar is low and depleted. Low blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia, causes weakness, anxiety, nervousness, shakiness and confusion. You feel weak, tremulous and irritable. You reach for a doughnut or a candy bar because your body craves sugar.
That was not the best choice. Eating simple sugars and junk foods will indeed raise your blood sugar, but only for a short time. As soon as that ingested burst of sugar is metabolized, your circulating levels of blood sugar drops back precipitously low. And, the cycle of irritability and poor mental performance continues.
There are several differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Emotional hunger tends to come on suddenly, while physical hunger occurs more gradually. When you're eating for emotional reasons, you tend to crave a specific food like ice cream, candy or pizza, and only that food will meet your need. When you're actually hungry, you're more open to options. Eating for emotional reasons tends to leave us feeling guilty when eating for physical hunger does not.
Since stress is here to stay, everyone needs to develop methods for invoking the relaxation response -- the natural unwinding of the stress response. Relaxation lowers blood pressure, improves respiration, lowers pulse rates, releases muscle tension and eases emotional strains. This response is highly individualized, but there are certain approaches that seem to work, including: exercise, deep breathing, muscle relaxation, meditation and having a good network of social support.
These articles are not intended as Medical advice, and the author assumes no responsibility for actions taken based on the information contained in this article. If Medical advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.