Social Anxiety Linked to Obesity, Study Shows
According to a new study, the daily stress we experience has the power to change our metabolism, which can lead to obesity.
These findings were obtained by researchers who observed rats that had been exposed to conditions in their environment which were intended to represent the equivalent of everyday stresses that humans deal with.
The researchers in the departments of psychiatry and biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine based their study on the premise that humans who eat few, but larger meals will gain excess weight. Their goal was to discover if extended exposure to various forms of stress would prompt the rats to change their habits and eat more, thus packing on extra pounds.
The rats were put in separate quarters at the beginning of the study, and then split into two groups - an act that clearly raised the rats' stress levels. In a matter of days, the rats naturally formed a hierarchy in each group, with leaders and subordinates each taking their roles. Interestingly, the rats that took power positions in the group continued to eat the same amount of food as always, while the rats that were in lower-ranking positions cut back on the number of meals they ate.
The subordinate rats didn't eat as often, but their food intake increased, causing them to gain an amount of weight that was visible. One of the conclusions drawn from this experiment, according to the researchers, was that the rats which were subject to stress over a period of time experienced damaging changes in their metabolism.
Ultimately, the study revealed that when humans experience stress over a significant period of time, the psychological impact will blend with body chemistry, causing their metabolism to slow down and the weight to pile on.
A similar study done revealed that stress brought on by social situations was likely to cause more fat to be deposited in the abdominal region. Not only that, this particular kind of stress also led to high levels of plaque buildup in the blood vessels, which is one of the common causes of heart attacks.
These findings were obtained by researchers who observed rats that had been exposed to conditions in their environment which were intended to represent the equivalent of everyday stresses that humans deal with.
The researchers in the departments of psychiatry and biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine based their study on the premise that humans who eat few, but larger meals will gain excess weight. Their goal was to discover if extended exposure to various forms of stress would prompt the rats to change their habits and eat more, thus packing on extra pounds.
The rats were put in separate quarters at the beginning of the study, and then split into two groups - an act that clearly raised the rats' stress levels. In a matter of days, the rats naturally formed a hierarchy in each group, with leaders and subordinates each taking their roles. Interestingly, the rats that took power positions in the group continued to eat the same amount of food as always, while the rats that were in lower-ranking positions cut back on the number of meals they ate.
The subordinate rats didn't eat as often, but their food intake increased, causing them to gain an amount of weight that was visible. One of the conclusions drawn from this experiment, according to the researchers, was that the rats which were subject to stress over a period of time experienced damaging changes in their metabolism.
Ultimately, the study revealed that when humans experience stress over a significant period of time, the psychological impact will blend with body chemistry, causing their metabolism to slow down and the weight to pile on.
A similar study done revealed that stress brought on by social situations was likely to cause more fat to be deposited in the abdominal region. Not only that, this particular kind of stress also led to high levels of plaque buildup in the blood vessels, which is one of the common causes of heart attacks.
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