Stress is a coping mechanism left over from the days when we were living in caves, hunting woolly mammoths, and fighting for our survival against saber-tooth tigers. The "fight or flight" response is the body's mechanism for handling stress. We've all felt it – your heart beats faster, you breathe faster, and your temperature rises. These physical responses are the result of the chemical adrenaline (produced by the kidneys) being released into your body. Unfortunately, you no longer need to flee from saber-tooth tigers, or hunt down the woolly mammoth, so quite often, the fight or flight response is wasted and actually can be a detriment to your attempt to lose weight.
Adrenaline's other effects on the body include directing your body to retain more water and sodium, and while sugar, protein, and fat are used as sources of energy during periods of stress, they are often not used effectively. Not only do many people tend to respond to stress by binge eating, but also often the stress we feel causes other destructive behaviors. During periods of stress, people are more likely to eat poorly, drink more caffeine, skip meals, or stop exercising. Stress causes some people to turn to alcohol, tobacco, or drugs for relief.
When you allow stress to rule your actions, you can actually exacerbate the stress. It's impossible to remove all of the stress from our lives. Whether you're raising teens, have a stressful job, or are worried about the economy, stress is going to continue to be a factor in your life. Long-term chronic stress is directly linked with increases in belly fat, so it is critical that you learn to handle stress in a more healthy way.
What most people don't realize is that stress can be conquered rather easily. Your body is dumping chemicals into your body that make it possible for you to burn fat. If you react to stress by doing some intense physical exercise, not only will you burn off the chemical byproducts of stress instead of storing them as belly fat but you'll also relieve the stress. Responding to stress with a good physical workout has amazing benefits.
Other ways you can reduce stress include meditating, doing relaxation and deep breathing exercises, or turning to an activity you enjoy. Play with your kids or spend time with them…often a child's laughter or smile will melt away your stress. Never eat to soothe stress; you will only make the symptoms worse. Work in your garden, write in your journal, read a good book, go for a walk – even punch a pillow if you have to – but don't feed stress.
The more you train your mind to react differently to the stress you do encounter in your life, the better capable you will be of handling the level of stress you must in your day-to-day activities. Don't always expect to get it right when you respond to stress – the nature of stress is that it sometimes makes us not care what we're supposed to do. If you keep trying, though, and keep reminding yourself of the benefit of responding to stress differently, soon it will become second nature.
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