Have you ever noticed how you can lose your appetite during (or even after) a long, stressful event? Or maybe how you crave foods when you’re feeling stressed (and typically not the “healthy” kind)? This is because of how our body reacts when we’re under stress, either short (acute) or long (chronic) term.
What is Metabolism?
Metabolism or metabolic rate is our body’s process to burn calories and convert them into energy. A person’s metabolic rate depends on age, sex, activity, and hormones. For instance, when women don’t have enough estrogen (typical for women in mid-life) or men don’t have enough testosterone (typical for men in mid-life), it affects the body’s ability to burn fat, leading to increased fat mass and decreased muscle mass. Not the ideal scenario. So we see that hormonal balance plays a role. But let’s take a closer look at stress and its adverse effect on our metabolism.
How stress affects your metabolism
Our brain sends signals to our bodies when we’re feeling stressed, which is part of our fight-or-flight response that helps us deal with anticipated threats in our environment. It’s a good thing and it helps us survive.
CORTISOL
And when we feel stressed, our body releases cortisol, which is our primary stress hormone. Cortisol can make us crave sugary, salty, and fatty foods because our brain thinks it needs fuel to fight whatever threat is causing the stress – and these types of food provide quick energy.
It’s interesting because stress causes some people to ignore their hunger cues and skip meals – leading to weight loss. But for others, stress turns them into emotional eaters who can mindlessly munch, finding that eating food provides a sense of comfort – which most likely leads to weight gain.
Cortisol also affects how our muscles, fat, and liver absorb insulin. Insulin sensitivity is a healthy state where our bodies are functioning optimally. But under chronic stress, our bodies can lose that insulin sensitivity and become insulin resistant – which is not a good thing. When we become insulin resistant, our body’s capability to oxidize fat and sugar is gravely compromised, leading to metabolic distress. This is when we will notice symptoms like weight gain (specifically around the waist), fatigue, high cholesterol or elevated blood pressure (among others).
Being under chronic stress can be very frustrating for people trying to lose weight. Because until stress levels are managed or eliminated, losing weight seems futile – even though everything else is dialed in – like diet and exercise. The scale just doesn’t seem to budge when the body’s in constant fight or flight mode. So you can see how managing stress is a great motivator for those working toward weight loss.
How to reduce stress and improve your metabolism
Thankfully, there is hope! There are many ways we can manage and even reduce our stress. I believe one of the most helpful things one can do is practice deep breathing. It stimulates and resets the parasympathetic nervous system so the body senses that it can calm down and relax. I commonly recommend the 4 square technique with my clients. It’s easy to do, easy to remember, and you can practice it anytime, anywhere – and no one will even know you’re doing it! Other things to try are: avoiding caffeine, engaging in gentle movement, using aromatherapy and essential oils, getting enough sleep, practicing gratitude, meditating or praying, avoiding social media and/or news, and more.
Boosting your metabolism is a big part of the equation. It’s important to give your body the nutrients it requires to perform all its functions optimally. By increasing your protein and fat intake, you kick your metabolism into high gear because your body has to work harder to process these macronutrients. At the same time, reduce foods high in sugar because your body doesn’t need to work hard at all to digest these. Additionally, your body can easily store those calories as fat – especially if you aren’t a moderately active person. Another way to boost your metabolism is to get moving. Moving more or becoming more active, focusing on exercises that involve strength training will help you build more muscle – and muscle increases metabolism. It’s a win – win!
The bottom line is: we all have stress. Stress is inevitable. But we can choose how we handle it and how we allow it to affect our lives. Sometimes we can even choose whether to accept (or dare I say, whether we invite) stress into our lives. Social media and news are an example of this. We are completely able to walk away, put our screens down or turn the tv off, right? So take a look at your life and ways you might be able to minimize the stress in your life. You might be surprised how easy it is and your metabolism (aka body) will love you for it. Here’s to restoring peace and calm and boosting metabolism!
