Why Does Stress Cause Belly Fat

Stress, alongside diabetes is known to be a silent killer as it causes decline in health and also affects every part of the body. These days, individuals are more stressed out than their ancestors. Due to this fast pace world, people don't want to lag behind the race and thus, health is most affected and stress is the primary reason for it.

Particularly speaking, stress and belly fat are co-related and you can see how stress affects belly fat by the following reasons. The metabolism of the body starts slowing down as you grow older and thus, fat starts to build up around the belly.

A sedentary lifestyle, bad eating habits and stress along with this natural ageing process leads to belly fat. This fat, also known as visceral fat is the most hazardous fat in the body. This fat has fastest access to the heart and other vital organs of the body, since it's situated behind the wall of the abdomen.

The abdominal fat doesn't only rest in the stomach and if you want to remove belly fat, then you need to take some vital steps. This belly fat, in fact, is extremely active and releases substances into your organs that are enormously injurious to the body. The body releases free fatty acids into the systems that damage the functioning of the body. Belly fat is not good for anyone, but it's particularly bad for men. This abdominal fat also carries a potential risk of heart disease.

Stress and Cortisol

Your body could store belly fat because of stress and this fat is stored for future use if needed in stressful situations. However, stress has changed in the last few decades, but your body isn't aware about it. Fats stored for use in stressful conditions meant like fighting a battle, animal and food shortage. Today, the definition of stress has changed and it's mainly related to your work and other household activities. Today, majority of the stress is long lived and not the stress which used to go after some time in olden days.

Today, the main offender of gaining belly fat is a hormone, named cortisol, that's produced by the adrenal glands and is synchronized by the pituitary gland. You can feel fatigued or even have chronic fatigue syndrome, if you don't have adequate cortisol.

You can also gain belly fat and your immune system can also be weakened if you get this cortisol in excess. Cortisol functions to maintain proper levels of glucose (blood sugar) and also regulates the metabolism of fats, protein and carbohydrates.

Your adrenal glands release cortisol, a hormone that works to support several functions in the body such as blood pressure regulation, functioning of the immune system, inflammatory response and release of insulin. This hormone is also known as stress hormone as it's released in higher quantities when the body reacts to stress.

Cortisol also has numerous positive influences over the body such as quick bursts of energy, sharp memory and maintaining immunity as well as homeostasis. However, if there is excess stress in your life, then it might lead to negative aspects of cortisol such as lower immunity, blood sugar levels and lower bone density. Also, large amount of cortisol bought by stress is hugely responsible for the belly fat that leads to numerous health concerns.

You might wonder as to what causes stress which in turn leads to serious health problems including belly fat. There are several causes of stress that include threat, fear and uncertainty. Stress could be from different sources, i.e. it could be personal as well as professional. Sometimes, stress is also self induced i.e. some people would overreact to a situation many times while others wouldn't.

Stress is self induced in the body by drinking too much coffee and if that's not enough then you dink caffeinated drinks. Thus, self induced stress is produced which further produces cortisol, thus it's important that you protect yourself from the self induced stress. However, more than finding the causes of stress, it's important that you know how to get out of it.

Beating the Stress

You must never overreact and try to stay calm in minor stressful situations. Take it as a challenge and a learning experience. You can perform some stress removing workouts such as yoga and meditation. Try restricting your intake of coffee, caffeine or energy drinks. The other way of beating stress is performing different exercises. Jogging, walking, running, treadmills and exercise bikes are great ways to work out and at the same time they are extremely useful to lose belly fat.

Individuals who experience regular stress such as demands from family, work deadlines, less sleep, extremely strict diet, etc. are more prone to an increased waist line. Stress also increases as your work opportunities increase. The stress hormone kicks in your body when you often begin to ignore your emotional needs as you're busier into your work which often contributes to weight gain in the abdominal area. These are the several ways on how stress affects belly fat.

As mentioned above, you can control stress by practicing yoga and meditation along with maintaining good dietary habits, performing regular exercise and adopting a holistic approach towards life. The biggest stress buster is having a calm and positive attitude towards life and if you combine this with sensible eating and exercise, then there is no reason that you cannot achieve a flat stomach.

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