Stressful events, daily stress at work, and life situations can actually make us overweight. When you are faced with a stressful situation, event, job or task, your cortisol levels in your brain rise and actually provide assistance in that particular situation to help you cope through that event. Cortisol is designed to spike and assist you with that event, then drop back to normal so your body can recover. What happens in our culture is that we are more exposed to high stressful events on a daily basis without allowing our bodies to get a chance of rest or relaxation after the event to bring cortisol levels back to normal and prepare for the next event. Instead our bodies stay in a "fight or flight" pattern and constantly operate as if the stressors are always present causing undue harm to the body in some of the following ways shared by professionals at Team Fitness America.

Stress causes emotional eating adding to weight gain and increased fat specifically in the abdomen region. When cortisol spikes it causes you to crave sugar, salt, and fat thus making us gravitate towards food with those ingredients in them which will indeed make you gain weight. If the body is repeatedly exposed to these stressful events and these types of foods are consistently eaten on a daily basis, you will gain weight and continue to gain weight until working with current stressors is mastered.

Too much cortisol can slow down your metabolic rate, thus causing you to processes foods slower and store more fat faster. Continued stress on the body’s system can alter blood sugar levels leading to conditions similar to hyperglycemia. Higher cortisol levels can also lower immunity and allow you to get sick more often. When you are not feeling well again you will crave sugar, salt, and fat thus leading to weight gain. It also produces doses of bad cholesterol levels (LDL) adding to more stress on the body and more weight gain.

So how does one break this vicious cycle of stress leading to overeating and slow metabolic rate contributing to fat storing in the abdomen?

Well, exec rise is the key. Exercise reduces the cortisol in your brain that is caused by prolonged stress and actually allows the body to recover from the "fight or flight" response. A good 30 minutes to 1 hour per day of some form of exercise will alleviate most of the symptoms. Simple exercises like walking, weight training, cardio, Pilates and yoga will drop your stress levels and drop your cortisol levels thus reducing body fat percentages.

Not only will exercise allow you to see wonderful changes in your body as fat melts away and you see lean muscles but it will also curb your overeating. Once cortisol levels drop, your cravings for sugar and sweets will drop as well adding to your weight loss. Once you see how great the results are and your metabolism isn’t sluggish you will be less likely to down a bag of potato chips followed by a large ice cream cone.

Along with exercise, relaxation will also help lower cortisol and make you feel better overall. Some like to get massages or sit in the tub just to relax. Others will go to a park or take a nature hike to feel refreshed. Whatever external activity you can do that makes you feel relaxed and renewed, in conjunction with exercise, will also lower your stress and cortisol levels.

A great way to combine a form of relaxation and also a form of exercise is practicing Yoga. Yoga is the lengthening and strengthening of muscles that we generally use on a daily basis and muscles that we also probably never knew we had. With yoga you learn how to breathe deeply and when you are in a stressful situation you can recall your yoga breathing and reduce your cortisol levels, thus reducing your stress level. You will also learn stretching techniques that will reduce the amount of lactic acid in the muscles and it allows your body to feel like you are receiving a massage.

Hiring a personal trainer or yoga teacher for a group of sessions to come directly to your home or office will allow you to learn how to properly perform the exercise and yoga techniques that will reduce your body fat and your cortisol levels. Think of it as preventive medicine. As you learn how to exercise and relax, your out of control eating will diminish, your bad LDL will drop, your belly fat will diminish, and you will feel great. Not to mention you will also increase your life expectancy.

With the constant influx of the stressors in your life and the increased cortisol levels your body is in constant danger of being fat, even obese, and this leads to many health issues that eventually lead to death. Simply hiring a personal trainer or yoga teacher to help you learn to decrease those stressors and increase your metabolic rate will be well worth it.

Stress does indeed make you fat and with a few simple lifestyle changes you can reduce the cortisol production and lead to a thin and happy lifestyle. Try an in home personal trainer, in home yoga teacher or in home Pilates teacher with a company like Team Fitness America and reverse the effects of stress on your body.