As final exams start to creep up on us, I wanted to explore the reason why I feel the need to eat everything in the pantry… I tell myself it’s stress eating. After reading a few articles, I found that this is a real thing that has been studied in undergraduate students! One particular study found that certain personality traits might influence stress-reactivity and be associated with an increased intake of high-calorie foods and weight-gain. The researchers studied undergraduate students during non-exam and final exam periods using fMRI. The final exam period was associated with higher levels of perceived stress in students that regularly experienced increased anxiety when completing daily tasks. During this period, the students were shown different images of food while in the fMRI and researchers found that certain areas of the brain demonstrated greater activation to high calorie foods compared to low calorie foods (Neseliler et al., 2017). Additionally, students who felt more stressed during final exams also showed increased levels of hunger. This study also evaluated the effects of stress on cortisol and ghrelin levels, however, there were no significant differences in either hormone during non-exam and final exam periods. It was concluded that daily stress may influence overeating in certain individuals, although there may be large variability depending on personality traits and stress-reactivity (Neseliler et al., 2017).
During times of stress do you feel like you overeat or gravitate more towards high-calorie foods? This article has definitely provided me with insight about my food choices especially during stressful times. Hopefully with final exams coming up, you will lean more towards healthier food options that will fuel your brain for a longer period of time. I know I’ll try!
Neseliler, S., Tannenbaum, B., Zacchia, M., Larcher, K., Coulter, K., Lamarche, M., Dagher, A. (2017). Academic stress and personality interact to increase the neural response to high-calorie food cues. Appetite, 116, 306-314. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.05.016
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteThis topic is very relatable to many people including myself; however, I also know many people who react in the exact opposite way where they stop eating entirely instead of overeat in times of stress. I found this very relevant study that provides an explanation to both overeating and undereating patterns during stress (Yau, Potenza, 2013). The study explains feeding behavior from an evolutionary point of view where insulin levels and glucocorticoids have an inverse relationship. This means that when glucocorticoids (aka stress hormones like cortisol) are high, insulin levels are low. The study explains this phenomenon as a result of evolution. When food was scarce, life-threatening stressors were frequent, so feeding behavior adapted to be repressed in times of high stress. This makes sense because if we secreted insulin during times of high stress, it would work in the opposite direction as stress hormones when they attempt to increase BGL (like in a stressful fight or flight situation). Today, Americans live in a world where food is a huge surplus and is easily accessible, so the proliferation of stressors has led to non-homeostatic feeding patterns. Because of this surplus, eating has become a means to activate reward/motivation pathways in the brain where an individual seeks these comfort foods in a similar fashion to a drug addict (although there is a great controversy if food addiction even exists). Regardless, food surplus has led to maladaptive feeding patterns contributing to the insane rate of obesity we see. Stress eating appears to be a negative side effect of the privilege we have in our food surplus.
Yau, Y. H., & Potenza, M. N. (2013). Stress and eating behaviors. Minerva endocrinologica, 38(3), 255–267.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI also find this topic very relatable!
I agree with Ben’s statement that as food availability has changed, our behaviors have evolved, however I’m wondering if there may be a relationship between this stress eating and the menstrual cycle. I’ve definitely heard of (and experienced) eating higher quantities and more often prior to menstruation and then much lower quantities and less frequently afterwards.
According to Medical New Today, this is due to the changes of estrogen and progesterone levels causing cravings for carbohydrates and occurs often as a symptom of PMS (premenstrual syndrome) (Leonard, 2018). It is also possible that women eat more sweet foods prior to their period because it increases serotonin thus stabilizing mood swings (Leonard, 2018).
Leonard, J. (2018, October 11). Compulsive eating before a period: Is it normal and how to avoid? Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323317#why-does-it-happen