Stress Contributes To Childhood Obesity
5. The age old question of what came first the chicken or the egg also seem to apply to stress and weight gain. When examining the relationship between childhood obesity and stress, the question is whether the weight gain causes stress or the stress causes the weight gain. While there may not be a clear answer as to which is responsible for the other, it does seem to be cyclical with both factors compounding each other.
While the stresses of life are usually assigned to adults, ( finances, work, relationships, etc.) children and teens certainly have their share of “the blues”( who likes who, am I wearing the right clothes, am I one of the cool kids). Recent research from Iowa State University has identified stress factors in adolescents that appear to have a direct relationship to obesity. Such things as having poor grades, mental health problems, more aggressive behavior, or doing more drugs and alcohol all lead to a child being more likely to have weight related issues.
Everyone with a television has probably seen the commercials connecting the stress hormone Cortisol and weight gain. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that helps the body respond to stress but also has other functions, including converting fat, protein and carbohydrates into energy. Stress hormones also ramp up fat storage. In ancient times of possible feast or famine or attack by a saber tooth tiger, this storage of extra energy could be a good thing. In most countries today, stress is handled sitting down and the excess calories go un-used. Normally, levels of this hormone peak in the morning and slowly decrease to a low point in the evening. However, Cortisol levels in stressed individuals were slightly elevated in the evening as well. To make matters worse, stress hormones trigger cravings for carbohydrate-rich foods that seem to calm the stress hormones. One study showed that when researchers withheld high carb foods from stressed mice, their stress hormones spiked. And the cycle continues.
Even though adults and children may have different causes of stress, at home the stress of parents can transfer to the children, contributing further to the possibility of childhood obesity. As may be expected, mothers appear to have more of an influence on their children’s mind set than fathers. Granted, most studies involved single mothers verses non-custodial fathers, the numbers still show that the availability of comfort foods in the home and the greater likelihood of women turning to food as a relief for stress lead to a greater incidence of their children also turning to food as a response to stress. With parents being busier today than ever (whether single or not) kids might be neglected or at least feel like they are and believe that somehow the chaos is their fault. For children trying to get their home life back under control, the stress can be overwhelming and often bury themselves in high carb, stress relieving foods.
If your child is suffering from childhood obesity, the suggestion from researchers is to focus on the big picture including diet, exercise and addressing home-life factors (that could be sabotaging the other two). If possible, try to incorporate stress relieving activities such as yoga or non-combative martial arts into your child’s routine. Remember, you as the parent, need to take charge when it comes to what foods are available in the home and not contributing to your child’s stress levels with your own. A tall order indeed, but by using a holistic approach to the problem, we may hope for better results in our battle against childhood obesity.
Tags: childhood obesity, obesity, overweight children, stress
