Can Stress Make You Fat?

It's true - stress can increase your blood levels of cortisol that then triggers your body to store fat. It is a protective mechanism that helps your body prepare for the "fight or flight" and thus to survive in times of acute stress. But when you are chronically stressed, your body doesn't realize you have plenty of food available and don't need to store fat for that "fight or flight" mechanism programmed into your body and brain.

Acute stress is useful - it serves as a warning signal that danger lies ahead. It physically prepares your body to deal with the danger in order to survive. However, our current lifestyles -long work hours, financial worries, poor sleep patterns, busy schedules - all contribute to a chronic stress pattern that locks your body into a hypervigilant state. This prepares your body to store fat and store lots of it!

However, there is good news! There are many ways to control your level of stress and fight fat. Let's look at the 5 best ways to take control of your stress and neutralize its effect on your life.

1. Good nutrition is the foundation of neutralizing stress. In particular, eating foods that have a low glycemic impact on your blood sugar levels are the very best "stress-busting" foods. Whenever you eat foods that rapidly increase your blood glucose levels (high glycemic impact foods), you actually create internal physical stress on your body. This in turn raises your cortisol levels even higher. By eating predominantly fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, beans and yams, you keep your blood sugar in a very narrow but normal range. Your body not only slows production of cortisol but you also get the benefit of numerous vitamins, minerals and bioflavenoids that neutalize stress as well. In addition, avoiding foods with refined sugars, processed and packaged foods will also turn down your body's production of cortisol.

2. Physical exercise is another great stress-buster. Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise help dispel the effects of stress. Exercise increases the molecules in the brain such as serotonin and endorphins. These molecules make you feel "good", soothe pain and boost mood. Popular forms of stress-release exercises include yoga,tai chi and typical sports such as biking, running and dance

3. Certain mental exercises can, also, be of tremendous help when we are experiencing the physical and mental effects of stress. For instance, even a slow deep breath with a relaxed belly and a slow release of the breath will "de-stress" your body within seconds, inducing the relaxation response. Guided imagery, meditation, even dancing and shaking can release physical stress and calm the mind.

4. Sleep - deep, refreshing, restorative sleep - is another way to break the grip stress places on your body. Sleep is the time your body restores its energy and repairs cells that have taken damage during the awake hours. When you are stressed, you may actually need more than your usual 8 hours of sleep to be able to cycle through the important stages of sleep that ultimately result in restoring the balance your body craves. When stressed, don't skimp on sleep and make it an important part of your routine. Listen to your body and give it the rest it so richly deserves.

5. Finally, we now have supplments that can help neutralize the impact of stress. These supplements typically contain herbs that help your body "adapt" to chronic stess, thus being named "adaptogenic" herbs. This simply means that they are able to help your body function better with less impact on your body's response to stress. Thus they can help modulate blood pressure, heart rate and feelings of anxiety and distress. They are not addictive and don't cause side-effects. They are often blended with minerals such as magnesium to create a muscle relaxant effect for calming musle tension.

With these 5 steps, you can start neutralizing the effects of stress. You can prevent fatigue, fat formation and storage as well as impact pain.