People with thyroid problems are often very confused. They have a tough time losing weight, because of the thyroid problem. And then they start getting stressed because they are getting overweight. On the other hand, being overweight is one of the reasons for ending up with thyroid problems. Similarly, it is not clear whether stress causes problems with thyroid or vice versa.
Let us find out how stress, obesity and thyroid are linked to one another.
Stress is a major cause of weight gain. People turn to food for comfort whenever they feel stressed and tend to overeat. To make it worse, we choose junk food. So, one, we eat unnecessarily without being hungry and two, junk food means much more added calories than needed.
Over a period, the caloric imbalance leads to weight gain and eventually elevates risk of diseases such as and hypothyroidism.
When stress lasts for a long time — for instance, stress after losing a loved one or surviving a tragedy — your thyroid gland and your immune system is overburdened. This leads to many metabolism-related health problems like hypothyroidism, diabetes, and hypertension. The immune system becomes overactive because of the stress hormones and starts attacking and destroying the thyroid hormones. When the thyroid hormones are lower than they should be, it leads to hypothyroidism.
Thyroid is a metabolic engine of your body that controls use of energy and foods. You start gaining weight because of salt and water retention. The drastic hormonal changes make you feel depressed or stressed all the time.
Now that you know this, choose healthy alternatives like an apple or roasted almonds the next time you feel stressed and are tempted to eat. Moreover, try alternate ways of busting stress like going for a walk or dancing to the tunes of some soothing music. This will not only relieve stress, but will also burn the excess calories.
