Does Cortisol Cause Weight Gain? Cortisol and Appetite

Stress can have a very real effect on your body, including on your appetite and food choices. We will see whether there’s a connection between stress and weight gain, and what you can do to have a healthy relationship with food when you’re stressed.

What is stress and how to recognise it

Stress is something that most people will experience many times in their lifetime. It’s the term used to describe how your body responds when you are under pressure. It also applies when you feel unsafe or threatened.

The factors that cause stress are nearly always external. It can be triggered by life situations such as relationship problems, money worries, ill health or issues at work. Trying something new can also cause feelings of stress.

When you are experiencing stress, your body releases cortisol. This hormone is produced by your adrenal glands. Cortisol has many functions, including managing your blood pressure, reducing inflammation and managing your sleep-wake cycle. It also has a role in regulating your metabolism.

How do stress hormones like cortisol affect appetite

Your metabolism is your body’s process of turning food and drink into energy. This energy supports essential functions, including breathing, digestion and healing. Everyone’s metabolism is different. Your natural metabolic rate can speed up or slow down based on factors such as age, gender and muscle mass.

Chronic stress elevates cortisol levels. This can increase your blood sugar levels, encouraging your body to store fat and also increase your appetite. This boost in hunger levels could drive you to eat more food than you actually need. Surplus energy that isn’t used will be stored in your body as fat, in case it needs to be used at a later time.

However, it’s important to note that not everyone who experiences stress is driven to eat more than usual. In fact, some people lose their appetite completely for a short period of time during periods of intense stress.

Stress also changes how your body uses its energy. You will use more carbohydrates at night, and fatty acids during the day. This is less than ideal as using fat for energy is much less efficient.

Physical symptoms of stress

So, how do you know if you’re stressed? Many people just know their own body and can tell, but there are also physical symptoms to be aware of. These include, but aren’t limited to:

Headaches
Muscle tension, such as stiffness in your neck
Faster heartbeat/heart palpitations
Feeling sweaty when you’re not unwell or doing exercise
Breathing more quickly than usual
Stomach pain and/or upset stomach
Sexual dysfunction, such the inability to get or keep an erection
Difficulty concentrating
Feeling overwhelmed, anxious or upset
Struggling to make decisions
Forgetfulness
Irritability
Sleeping too much or too little
Avoiding people, places and situations
Drinking more alcohol or smoking/vaping more than usual

Physical symptoms can vary considerably between individuals, as can the severity of each effect that you experience.

Why does stress cause us to reach for comfort foods?

Have you ever noticed how you’re more likely to reach for your favourite foods when you’re stressed? Cortisol is also one of the main reasons for this. When your body produces high levels of cortisol, it also triggers cravings for foods that are rich in salt, sugar and fat. Your body perceives these to be able to provide you with quick energy.

Eating comfort food makes you feel better too. When you eat your preferred foods, part of your brain called your hypothalamus releases dopamine. Dopamine is known as the feel-good hormone because it drives pleasure and reward.

The trouble with dopamine is that once it’s released, it feels so good that it encourages you to repeat those behaviours. Regular comfort eating in response to stress can lead to excess calorie consumption that eventually causes weight gain.

Dopamine isn’t the only hormone that can make it hard to make healthy food choices. Serotonin is another chemical in your brain that is linked to comfort eating.

These high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar foods boost natural serotonin levels. triggering neurotransmitters in your brain that make you feel happy and reduce stress. And you’ll be likely to repeat these behaviours so you can experience them time and time again.

Cortisol and appetite: how does cortisol cause weight gain?

We now know that stress causes cortisol, and cortisol increases both appetite and the natural human desire to find ways to manage stress. We also know that for many people, emotional eating is a quick and easy way to reduce stress.

It can lower high cortisol levels and increase feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. These changes can help you feel better again quickly.

Encouraging serotonin and dopamine release can help counter stress.

But it can lead to challenges to maintain your overall health and weight loss goals. This is more likely if you choose unhealthy foods.

It can also happen if you eat too much to feel better. Fortunately, you can do other things to raise serotonin and dopamine and lower cortisol without snacks.

These include:

Getting enough sunlight exposure. If you’ve been sitting indoors, go out into the fresh air and sunshine to get an immediate mood boost.
Engage in regular exercise. There are many studies that show that regular exercise can increase dopamine production.
Practice stress-reducing activities such as meditation, yoga and deep breathing exercises.

Practical ways to manage stress eating

If you’re still struggling with stress eating, don’t panic. As well as external resources, there are some practical steps you can take to help.

Practice mindful eating

Take note of how you feel before you start eating. Think about whether you’re really hungry, or if you’re turning to food to help you manage a stressful event.

Have a plentiful supply of easy to eat, healthy food

When you’re stressed, you want food that’s quick to grab and eat, not items that need time to prepare. Having a supply of high-protein, nutrient dense snack options that are ready to eat can help you to make good choices. Think vegetables sticks, fruit pots, yoghurts and nuts/seeds.

Plate up your food

Instead of taking a whole packet to your desk or sofa, put snacks and meals on a plate. This helps you see and track what you eat. Healthy snacks like fruit, nuts, popcorn or even a small bit of chocolate can all be an excellent choice. Mix your nutrients, aiming to get fat, protein and carbs rather than focusing on one.

Key Takeaways

Stress can have a significant impact on your appetite.
Periods of stress can cause your body to crave comfort foods, which are low in nutritional value.
These can create an eating cycle that can be hard to break.
Prolonged stress and cortisol release can lead to weight gain.
There are steps you can take to manage stress eating.

If you want more advice about how hormones like cortisol affect appetite and food choices, contact our team.