Overweight and obesity caused by anxiety, stress, and depression

Stress, anxiety, and depression can lead to being overweight and overweight. In turn, obesity can cause depressive disorders. Why and how is it treated?

The stress and anxiety because some people to gain weight (overweight), while yet others makes them lose weight. But is there a relationship between stress and diet? The truth is that, as has been scientifically proven on many occasions, our diet and diet directly influence our mood. The different foods that we consume each day can contain nutrients and certain substances with direct action on our nervous system, and more specifically, on our own humor.

The same can happen in reverse. That is, maintaining a depressed, anxious or stressed mood can negatively influence your diet. Or, put another way: maintaining a proper diet helps overcome depression itself, while a diet low in protein foods can cause our moods to decline by not taking all the amino acids that the body needs.

For example, when a person is anxious or stressed (or simply nervous), it tends to be very common for them to neglect their diet, being very common to choose foods that are not so healthy or nutritious.

Overweight and moods.

In this case the relationship is twofold, since depression, stress and anxiety can lead to weight gain, and in turn emotional problems such as depression or anxiety can be created by being overweight.

This is so because, on many occasions, we can meet people who, when faced with a certain situation that causes stress, nervousness or anxiety, tend to respond by eating.

It has also been shown that the consumption of foods rich in carbohydrates increases  serotonin levels, which helps alleviate many negative emotional states. For example, taking ice cream or chocolate is not bad or serious as long as it is done in a moderate way. The problem would be when, whenever we feel emotionally bad, we tend to consume foods like these to feel better.

And not only because you can gain weight in this way by increasing the calorie intake itself, and then many people feel bad and guilty for having eaten that way.

And it is true that to some extent eating certain foods can help us feel better since we take amino acids and substances that help us in emotional states, but these do not satisfy the needs for affection, communication or self-confidence that led to the binge.

When depression, anxiety, or stress are the cause of being overweight and obese?

We must bear in mind that depression is a disease that affects the body as a whole, particularly the brain, negatively affecting the way of thinking, the way life is seen, the mood, the appetite and the concept that the person has on himself.

This can negatively influence the diet, since it  is common for the depressive state to cause the person to become passive, not very active, which means that they will tend to close themselves at home and stop doing outdoor activities free (that is, it will become sedentary).

If we add to this that prescription drugs not only for the treatment of depression, but also for anxiety and stress, often cause weight gain, we have that the end result ends up not being as positive as possible. Expect.

When being overweight causes depression?

It can also happen the other way around. That is, anxiety or depression is not a cause of being overweight (because the nervousness characteristic of these two moods influences our choosing to consume foods higher in fat and calories), but rather that being overweight is the cause of that depression or anxiety.

It has been shown many times that excess weight tends to because mood disorders such as anxiety or depression. Why? Although in reality the causes that can cause the appearance of these disorders are different, the key is in the lack of self-esteem that is usually caused by being overweight, especially when at some point in the past the person has suffered a negative case about their excess weight (teasing, insults).

That is, the overweight person tends to have low or very low self-esteem, since they have many negative thoughts both about their external appearance and about their life in general. It is common that, in addition, they face numerous diets in order to lose weight, but that they never finally do. This can be due to different aspects: from their low mood to their difficulties to relate and perform activities outdoors and pleasant, through their lack of energy due to that depressive state.

In any case, a wide variety of studies have found that depression can be a cause or a consequence of obesity.

How obesity depression, anxiety, or stress is treated?

For the treatment of obesity when it is a cause of depression, anxiety or stress (and vice versa), it is necessary for the specialist to carry out a  comprehensive treatment , which in addition to the proper dietary treatment, involves the prescription of psychotherapy and drugs.

While the prescription of an individualized diet by the dietitian / nutritionist is essential, so is cognitive therapy, which has become one of the most effective psychotherapeutic treatments in the treatment of eating disorders.

That is, it helps the person to accept their own body, increasing and gaining self-esteem and self-confidence. This, in turn, positively helps to acquire a new lifestyle, adopting healthy eating habits and more physically active habits.