Do you have a belt of fat around your waist that is almost impossible to shift? Chuck away those fad diets and look at your hectic lifestyle – because, according to scientists from the University of California, those stubborn pounds may be a result of chronic stress levels, than our diets.
Our prehistoric ancestors had very real stresses between finding food, overcoming illness and running away from hungry sabre-toothed tigers. When your body is faced with these situations you need energy and lots of it, delivered to the parts of your body needed to either fight or flee.
To give you this burst of energy, your body releases energy in the form of glucose (from carbohydrates) and fatty acids, glycerol and ketone (from fats). A hormone called cortisol is also released into your system to keep those blood levels of glucose and fats high.
Modern women rarely have to run away from prehistoric tigers but unfortunately your body can’t differentiate between predator-related stress and modern daily pressures, such as rising bills, impending deadlines or juggling work and families. Your body still responds in exactly the same way – by releasing sugars and fats into your bloodstream.
And, because of our modern sedentary lifestyles, this energy is stored as excess fat rather than burnt off. The fat is stored in the areas closest to the liver (around your middle), where it can readily be converted back into energy in the future. Handy for your body but not for your waistline!
Building relaxing activities into your daily routine will help break the vicious stress response cycle, allowing your body to function normally. It’s important to have a realistic goal of what you can achieve in terms of your diet, keeping in mind that women’s bodies naturally thicken as we approach menopause.
One reason menopausal women hold on to fat is that oestrogen causes the secretion of a substance called leptin in the body. Leptin plays a role in regulating our body weight and food intake. As oestrogen levels decline so does leptin, thus we start to store fat more readily as our food intake is greater than our needs.
The key to getting back on the road to a trimmer you is in learning to deal with your stress levels. Building in some simple measures during your day will help you combat stress and lose extra stress-related weight
Reduce your stress, get some gentle exercise and eat healthy foods – you’ll notice the pounds fall away from your waistline. And you’ll be streaks ahead of that nasty prehistoric tiger!
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Tags: Body Shape, Effects of Stress, Stress
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