A recent investigation held by the Ohio State University has confirmed that people who face stressful situations in their daily life are more likely to reduce the benefits of having a healthy diet. Stress also augments the risks of inflammation and the likelihood of heart diseases.
The study led by Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, the director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at the Ohio State University, aimed to understand the consequences that daily stress had in people who opted for a more balanced diet and if their health could be compromised.
Kiecolt-Glaser and her team studied over 58 women, with an average age of fifty-three years old with different races and habits, to understand their daily lives and how stress affected their health. Finding that stressful events led healthier women to burn fewer calories and have greater risks of inflammation.
“Stress changes the way we process food,” said Kiecolt-Glaser, who is also a psychiatry and psychology professor at the Ohio State University, to the Huffington Post.
Less stress more benefits
In our daily lives and especially in today’s society, stress is common factor, whether it’s work related or particular personal circumstances it’s somehow always there, and we’ve become accustomed to it. However, the increasing statistics of stress levels among the world’s populations gives a hint on how stress is compromising people’s health
According to the U.S Stress Statistics, 77 percent of the country’s population regularly experiences physical symptoms caused by stress, whether it is a rapid heart rate or physical discomforts and 73 percent of the population suffers the psychological consequences of stress.
In the United States, there are seven primary reasons for which people tend to experience stress, these being work-related, money issues, health compromises on the individual or in a family member, social relationships, inadequate nutrition including the excessive consumption of caffeine, sugars and processed food, a media overload and sleep deprivation.
All of these causes affect people in different levels, but when stress is not relieved or controlled it compromises our health and can even lead to other emotional diseases such as depression and anxiety.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than one out of twenty Americans, twelve years and older reports depression, which provides a view of the country’s emotional situation.
Kiecolt-Glaser and her team aimed to understand how people that choose to be more healthy didn’t obtain benefits due to stress, so they decided to separate 58 women into two different groups who would eat the same calorie-full breakfast cook differently in twenty minutes.
The meal consisted of biscuits, gravy, eggs and turkey sausages, one group of women ate the meal prepared as typical fast-food is done, with palm oil and butter. However, the other group ate a meal prepared with monounsaturated sunflower oil, which is believed to be more healthy and categorized as “good fat.”
In the end, both meals had 930 calories in them, but with the difference of the amount of fat in them which meant that women who ate the high-fat meal wold tend to have a higher increase in their blood levels and would show higher levels and risks for inflammation.
In the form of survey, the team of researchers measured the blood standards of all 58 women before, and after they had eaten the meal to measure their markers of inflammation, their blood pressure was measured and the team performed an individual interview with each participant to describe the possible stressful events they had lived the day before.
Researchers also indagated into the women’s past to understand if they had suffered from depression or other emotional issues in the past. When the results arrived, it turned out that women who’ve had faced stress the day and eaten a healthier breakfast had the same high blood levels than those who’ve just eaten a “bad fat” meal.
When the results arrived, it turned out that women who’ve had faced stress the day before and eaten a healthier breakfast had the same high blood levels than those who’ve just eaten a “bad fat” meal.
According to the lead author, the stressful events explained by women variated in different levels and even though they weren’t life changing they had a different amount of weight in the participants.
Some of the women explained their responsibilities as stressful and having to juggle between work and taking care of their families, and others described situations such as taking care of an elderly relative suffering from dementia or taking care of their homes.
In the group of 58 women, 31 reported at least one stressful event before their meals in one occasion, and 21 of them reported stressful events in both visits. Only six women said no stressful events happened before the meals.
“Stress makes it hard to lose weight, several things are happening: we eat comfort food, we’re sleeping more poorly, and we’re hungrier the next day. And when we’re stressed we’re less likely to exercise,” explained Kiecol-Glaser to the Post.
Overall, the team of researchers advises to keep making good healthy choices when it comes to suppers and to try to alleviate stressful events with others that might relief that weight, such as exercising or reading.
Source: The Ohio State University