People who suffer long-term stress may also be more prone to obesity, a new study has warned. To find out, English researchers compared stress levels and body weight of more than 2,500 men and women over age 54 who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

The study showed that exposure to higher levels of cortisol over several months is associated with people being more heavily, and more persistently, overweight.

Chronic stress has long been hypothesised to be implicated in obesity – people tend to report overeating and ‘comfort eating’ foods high in fat, sugar and calories in times of stress, and the stress hormone cortisol plays an important role in metabolism and determining where fat is stored.

“These results provide consistent evidence that chronic stress is associated with higher levels of obesity,” said Dr Sarah Jackson, who led the research.

“People who had higher hair cortisol levels also tended to have larger waist measurements, which is important because carrying excess fat around the abdomen is a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, and premature death,” said Jackson.

“Hair cortisol is a relatively new measure which offers a suitable and easily obtainable method for assessing chronically high levels of cortisol concentrations in weight research and may therefore aid in further advancing understanding in this area,” she added. The research was published in the journal Obesity.

Tags: chronic stresshealth newsobesityweight gain

- - Advertisement - -