Does Stress Eating Actually Reduce Stress? Asking For A Friend.

Sure, it can elevate your mood ... temporarily. But does it do more than that?

Stress has caused just about all of us to change the way we eat, at some point or another in our lives. While some people lose their appetite and skip meals, others eat to help manage stress, swearing that tried-and-true comfort foods help them feel better.

According to the American Psychological Association, stress eating may cause people to feel “sluggish or lazy and feeling bad about their bodies.” Yet, stress eating remains common enough that there may be something to claim that it helps improve mood. Is there anything to these claims? And what can we do instead of eating to help us feel better?

Why do people eat when they are stressed?

There are three main reasons some people eat when under stress.

First, we are biologically programmed to eat when stressed, said Jacqueline Shiels, a clinical psychologist at Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek, California, who specializes in eating disorders and disordered eating. “Biologically, stress triggers cortisol, the stress hormone, which plays a role in appetite and cravings,” she explained. When under stress, eating is “our body’s way of coping with real or imagined threats.”