Stress and Your Metabolism

One interesting thing about stress and weight loss is that reduction of stress results in healthier metabolism so we more readily use the calories that we ingest and keep excess weight off the body just by being moderately active.

This happens because our body systems function in a more efficient and consistent manner when we are at rest. Rest includes sleep of course, but it also has to do with regulating our breathing during normal daily activity and preventing our body from going into fight or flight, cortisolsecreting mode.

Again, when our body is at rest is when those background functions can take place in a timely fashion. This includes cell regeneration, in other words healing, as well as processing of nutrition and reproduction.

Cortisol Makes You Hungry

A rise in cortisol levels causes us to feel hungry and search out foods that deliver a calming feeling to our nerves so we can think more clearly and cope with whatever is causing us to feel stressed.

Also, when we’re able to mitigate stress is when our body systems slow down to fully utilize the foods that we eat and assimilate any available nutrition. Try to picture your food, a typical meal that you might eat which contains all of the food groups. Your meal would consist of a protein which is needed for healthy muscles.

Not only are the muscles of our moving body parts in need of protein, but our brain and heart as well are muscles which

require protein to function properly.

Your typically healthy and balanced meal would likely also contain a carbohydrate which we need for fuel. How much of course depends on the amount of exertion required to do whatever activities we plan to be involved in. Ideally, a complex carb or wholegrain source of energy would be the better choice here.

The vitamins and minerals of the foods that we eat also serve a variety of purposes, including assisting with immune function, aiding digestion, and helping our brain and nervous system, heart, vascular and respiratory systems work properly.

Again, when our body is faced with a stressful situation, we go into high cortisol production, and we also make adrenalin which speeds up all systems. Our brain tells our digestive system to cease activity. So, whatever nutritious food we ingested ends up being partially digested in our stomach.

Because our body is not able to focus on the proper processing and absorption of the nutrition and aforementioned protein carbs and vitamins that we ate, it means that the food is now sitting in our stomachs undigested, and we are left with an unsatisfied feeling and a case of digestive troubles. This could include gas, bloating and diarrhea. Without proper assimilation of our nutrition we still feel hungry, and our brain cannot function as well as if we have fueled ourselves with good food.

How to Reduce Stress so You Can Lose Weight

So how can we alleviate stress from our daily lives in order to let our bodies slow down and perform the functions needed to keep us operating at peak performance and to prevent us from gaining weight as a response to stress?

One of the best ways is to burn off the tension and resulting, accumulated hormone chemicals. After a difficult and challenging day either on the job, in your personal life or both, you may feel the tension has collected in your muscles. Toxins, too, are present in the bloodstream and in need of release, either by sweating, urinating, or having a bowel movement.

Perhaps as a result of stress, you feel the slight ache of a stiff neck, back and shoulders. Maybe your calves seem tight, or your hips hurt when you walk. You could have a headache. Most people do not realize that a headache can result from muscle tension originating in the neck, spine or even hip region.

Alignment Matters

In the body, better alignment means less energy is required for simple movements, leaving more energy for other vital functions, like digestion, circulation, fighting flues and viruses, etc.! Alignment is so vital to the health and wellness of the entire body, that an entire profession has been created to safeguard this essential characteristic!

Your body may be temporarily out of alignment as a result of poor posture and lack of movement. The tension that has built up in your muscles over the course of your challenging day may

actually be stuck there!

According to the article from Very Well Mind, How Physical Exercise Benefits Mental Health, “Exercise can alleviate many of the symptoms of depression, such as fatigue, tension, anger, and reduced vigor. “

To relieve your body of muscle tension, it’s always a good idea to engage in cardio activity. As mentioned, activity helps us burn off accumulated tension and toxins by purging them via muscle release, sweating, flushing the kidneys and processing our food completely.

You can go for a jog or use exercise machines to speed up your heart rate and engage your muscles. Any weight bearing activity such as jogging which repeatedly delivers light impact (think feet pounding the pavement), releases tension from the body. This becomes apparent when we experience lower blood pressure levels after going for a run and then giving ourselves a walking cooldown. When we return to a resting state, we notice that our blood pressure has come down from what it may have been prior, when we were feeling stressed. Another really good method of reducing stress is stretching. Both yoga and Pilates work to realign the body and stretch the muscles. The deeper and slower we breathe, and the deeper the stretch we engage, the more relaxed we become which returns our body to that restful state of doing its background work - cleansing, repairing, and regulating all systems.

Yoga and other forms of stretching engage the parasympathetic nervous system which controls breathing, heart rate, digestion, metabolism, hormone, and immune function.

Breathing. it seems hard to believe but the simple act of regulating our breathing can help us recover after a stressful encounter or after a day of battling stress in our everyday lives. Many people engage in mindful breathing to help click on the parasympathetic nervous system so that we may come out of fight or flight, cortisol production mode and give our bodies the opportunity to rest and repair as needed.

Meditation. Meditation is a more focused way to regulate your breathing as well as clear the mind. Meditating just once does wonders for stress levels. Making meditation a regular part of your daily life can significantly lower stress. Many people who meditate find that they are less likely to gain weight. They are far less likely to “stress eat,” and they experience deeper sleep at night which helps them maintain healthy metabolism during the day.