The Health Sciences Institute is intended to provide cutting-edge health information.
Nothing on this site should be interpreted as personal medical advice. Always consult with your doctor before changing anything related to your healthcare.

Holiday stress triggers

Easy Does It

For those of us in the U.S., our thoughts are turning to the preparation of a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow and the pleasures of having family and close friends gathered round the dining table (and in front of the television for a few football games).

But once dinner is over and the table is cleared, everything changes. Because that’s the approximate moment when the year-end holiday season begins. And for many of us, that means extra levels of stress heaped on top of the large and small stresses we already deal with every day. Just the passing thought of the coming holiday crush may be enough to send us into the kitchen looking for comfort in another slice of pumpkin pie.

If you tend to eat when you feel stressed (which, I confess, I do), don’t be too hard on yourself, because a new study reveals just how normal it is for stress and food consumption to be linked. In other words, your desire to load up on comfort food isn’t the result of a weak will; it appears to be a powerful need, driven by your body’s biological reaction to stress.

Raging hormones

The body has two basic responses to stress: acute and chronic.

When your boss tells you you’ll have to work on Saturday – the same day your daughter is giving her first piano recital – your response is acute; your stress level spikes.

But when you add that and other acute stress sources to dozens of daily and long-term stresses, the typical response is chronic. Your chronic stress level is more like a plateau with a gradual rise.

The chronic response to stress triggers the unpleasant side effects we associate with stress: depression, weight gain or loss, mood swings, a weakened immune system, and even damage to brain cells. And it’s this chronic response that researchers at University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) studied by examining the reaction of laboratory rats that received artificially increased levels of a glucocorticoid steroid hormone; a hormone that has been shown to naturally increase in both humans and rats when stressors are abundant and ongoing.

The UCSF team found that within 24 hours of stimulating the chronic stress mechanism with glucocorticoids, the rats responded with pleasure-seeking behavior. Specifically, the rats had a clear preference for sucrose and lard. When glucocorticoid levels are high, other hormones are also stimulated that help perpetuate the overall chronic stress response. But researchers observed that as the rats increased their abdominal fat, the stimulation of the additional hormones was gradually inhibited, and glucocorticoid levels returned to normal.

Hit the brakes

In a UCSF press release, one of the co-authors of the study, Norman Pecoraro, Ph.D., said, “Our studies suggest that comfort food applies the brakes on a key element of chronic stress.”

More research will need to be done before the UCSF researchers can conclude that the intake of comfort food is actually a biological response that combats stress. But even if they can prove this to be the case with humans, an intake of the types of foods that create abdominal fat would be a poor way to treat any health problem. Abdominal obesity (as opposed to weight gain in other parts of the body) has been shown to raise the danger of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.

Nevertheless we can put to good use the apparent connection between stress and food cravings.

In a recent Johns Hopkins University study, many people who were tested and shown to be suffering from long-term stress reported in interviews that their stress levels were not high. So some of the most-stressed subjects weren’t even aware of how much stress they were experiencing.

To successfully manage chronic stress, it’s important to understand that a craving for comfort food is actually a pleasure-seeking reaction to stress. And it’s also important to make the distinction between a food craving and actual hunger. When constant cravings are recognized as a possible stress warning sign, then healthier activities can be employed to satisfy the pleasure-seeking impulse. The UCSF researchers note that exercise, meditation, yoga, and sex can all provide the needed stimulus to quiet food cravings.

So what will it be? 20 sit-ups, or a slice of pie? Not much of a contest there when you’re craving comfort. Pie wins every time. But there’s no question about which choice is the healthy one. And if the UCSF researchers are correct, the healthy choice will take care of your cravings AND help manage your stress.

Happy Thanksgiving

I certainly don’t want to be a wet blanket on anyone’s Thanksgiving celebration. If you don’t gorge yourself on carbs and sugars there’s no real danger for most of us in enjoying a slice of pie after our meal.

But when holiday stress kicks in, a brisk walk or a few minutes of quiet breathing exercises will do more good for your waistline and your frazzled brain than any amount of pumpkin pie.

Sources:
“Chronic Stress and Obesity: A New View of ‘Comfort Food'” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 100, no. 20, 9/30/03, pnas.org
“Comfort-Food Cravings may be Body’s Attempt to Put Brake on Chronic Stress” UCSF News Services News Release, 9/10/03, pub.ucsf.edu
“Hidden Stress Underlies Heart Attacks” Reuters, 11/11/03, msnbc.com

Get a free copy of 5 Household Items that Cause Cancer

By texting HSI to 844-539-1128, you are providing your electronic signature expressly consenting to be called and texted (including by prerecorded messages, using an autodialer, and/or automated means) with alerts, stories, reports, and marketing communications from Institute of Health Sciences, LLC. and its authorized representatives at the phone number you provide, including landlines and wireless numbers, even if the phone number is on a corporate, state or national Do Not Call list. You also consent and unconditionally agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the arbitration provision and class action waiver contained therein. Msg&data rates may apply. 15 Msgs/Month. You are not required to agree to this as a condition of making a purchase.

Terms & Conditions

The following Terms and Conditions apply to your use of the website located at hsionline.com (the “website”) and any text messages that you send to or receive from the Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C. These Terms and Conditions constitute a binding agreement (“Agreement”) between you (“you”) Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C (“we”, “us”, etc.)  Please read these terms carefully. 

By providing your telephone number to us, texting us a short code listed on the website, or otherwise indicate your agreement to these Terms and Conditions, you are agreeing to the mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver below. 

ARBITRATION IS MANDATORY AND THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY AND ALL DISPUTES RELATED TO THIS WEBSITE, THIS AGREEMENT, AND ANY TELEPHONE CALLS, EMAILS, OR TEXT MESSAGES THAT YOU RECEIVE FROM OR ON BEHALF OF US, UNLESS SPECIFIED BELOW OR UNLESS YOU OPT-OUT.

Text Messaging and Telemarketing Terms and Conditions

When you provide your telephone number on this website or send a text message to us with or from a short-code, you agree to receive alerts and communications, and marketing messages including those sent via automated telephone dialing system, text messages, SMS, MMS, and picture messages from Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C at the phone number you provide on this website or the phone number from which you text the short code, including on landlines and wireless numbers, even if the phone number is on a corporate, state or national Do Not Call list. You also agree to the mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver below. Your consent is not required to purchase goods or services. Message & data rates may apply.

You may opt-out at any time by texting the word STOP to the telephone number from which you receive the text messages.  Call 1-888-213-0764 to learn more.  By providing your telephone number, you agree to notify us of any changes to your telephone number and update your account us to reflect this change. Your carrier may charge you for text messages and telephone calls that you receive, or may prohibit or restrict certain mobile features, and certain mobile features may be incompatible with your carrier or mobile device. Contact your carrier with questions regarding these issues.

Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver

Any dispute relating in any way to telephone calls, emails, or text messages that you receive from or on behalf of Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C this website, or this Agreement (collectively “Disputes”) shall be submitted to confidential arbitration and shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the State of Maryland, excluding its conflict of law provisions.  For the avoidance of doubt, all claims arising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state telemarketing laws shall be considered “Disputes” that are subject to resolution by binding individual, confidential arbitration.

If a Dispute arises under this Agreement, you agree to first contact us at 1-888-213-0764 or help@hsionline.com. Before formally submitting a Dispute to arbitration, you and we may choose to informally resolve the Dispute.  If any Dispute cannot be resolved informally, you agree that any and all Disputes, including the validity of this arbitration clause and class action waiver, shall be submitted to final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) in a location convenient to you or telephonically. Either you or we may commence the arbitration process by submitting a written demand for arbitration with the AAA, and providing a copy to the other party.  The arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the AAA’s Commercial Dispute Resolutions Procedures, Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes, in effect at the time of submission of the demand for arbitration.  Except as may be required by law as determined by the arbitrator, no party or arbitrator may disclose the existence, content or results of any arbitration hereunder without the prior written consent of both parties. Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C will pay all of the filing costs.  Without limiting the foregoing, YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE TO SUBMIT TO ARBITRATION ALL DISPUTES RELATING TO ANY TEXT MESSAGES OR TELEPHONE CALLS YOU RECEIVE FROM OR ON BEHALF OF US OR ANY ENTITY WITH WHOM WE MAY SHARE YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.  Further, we both agree that all entities with whom we share your telephone numbers shall be third party beneficiaries of this Agreement to Arbitrate Disputes, and that those entities have the same rights as Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C to enforce this arbitration provision.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following shall not be subject to arbitration and may be adjudicated only in the state and federal courts of Maryland: (i) any dispute, controversy, or claim relating to or contesting the validity of our or one of our family company’s intellectual property rights and proprietary rights, including without limitation, patents, trademarks, service marks, copyrights, or trade secrets; (ii) an action by us for temporary or preliminary injunctive relief, whether prohibitive or mandatory, or other provisional relief; (iii) any legal action by us against a non-consumer; or (iv) interactions with governmental and regulatory authorities.  You expressly agree to refrain from bringing or joining any claims in any representative or class-wide capacity, including but not limited to bringing or joining any claims in any class action or any class-wide arbitration.

The arbitrator’s award shall be binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this Agreement may be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this Agreement, whether through a class action, private attorney general proceeding, class arbitration proceedings or otherwise.

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A RIGHT TO LITIGATE IN A COURT, TO HAVE A JUDGE OR JURY DECIDE YOUR CASE AND TO BE PARTY TO A CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION.  HOWEVER, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO HAVE ANY CLAIMS DECIDED INDIVIDUALLY AND ONLY THROUGH ARBITRATION.  You shall have thirty (30) days from the earliest of the date that you visit the website, the date you submit information to us through the website, or the date that you send a text message to us, to opt out of this arbitration agreement, by contacting us by email at help@hsionline.com or by mail Health Sciences Institute, PO Box 913, Frederick, MD 21705-0913. If you do not opt out by the earliest of the date that you visit the website, the date you submit information to us through the website, or the date that you send a text message to us, then you are not eligible to opt out of this arbitration agreement.

Electronic Signatures

All information communicated on the website is considered an electronic communication.  When you communicate with us through or on the website, by text message or telephone, or via other forms of electronic media, such as e-mail, you are communicating with us electronically.  You agree that we may communicate electronically with you and that such communications, as well as notices, disclosures, agreements, and other communications that we provide to you electronically, are equivalent to communications in writing and shall have the same force and effect as if they were in writing and signed by the party sending the communication.

You further acknowledge and agree that by clicking on a button labeled “ORDER NOW”, “SUBMIT”, “I ACCEPT”, “I AGREE”, “YES”, by texting a short code to us in response to a request on this website, or by clicking or similar links or buttons, you are submitting a legally binding electronic signature and are entering into a legally binding contract.  You acknowledge that your electronic submissions constitute your agreement and intent to be bound by this Agreement.  Pursuant to any applicable statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances or other laws, including without limitation the United States Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, P.L. 106-229 (the “E-Sign Act”) or other similar statutes, YOU HEREBY AGREE TO THE USE OF ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES, CONTRACTS, ORDERS AND OTHER RECORDS AND TO ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF NOTICES, POLICIES AND RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS INITIATED OR COMPLETED THROUGH THE WEBSITE.  Furthermore, you hereby waive any rights or requirements under any statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances or other laws in any jurisdiction which require an original signature, delivery or retention of non-electronic records, or to payments or the granting of credits by other than electronic means You may receive a physical paper copy of this contract by contacting us at help@hsionline.com.

Privacy Policy

Please read our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.  In the event of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy, these Terms shall control.

Contact Us

You may contact us by telephone at 1-888-213-0764 or by email at help@hsionline.com.