Comfort Food May Heighten Stress Levels And Worsen Heart Health, Reveal Experts
Comfort foods may not be as comforting as we think when we are stressed. New study reveals that it can not only increase stress levels but also worsen vascular function.
Written by Kinkini Gupta |Updated : December 12, 2023 7:45 PM IST
When you feel stressed, what is the first thing that you do? Different people have different reactions to stress, some begin to over-think and are unable to focus on the work the is in front of them, some people stop eating and might also start to feel depressed, some other people start to binge eat or stress eat hoping that it would make them feel better. But, that is completely false. We do rely on our comfort foods when we are stressed or sad but eating them while we are stressed will only exacerbate it. A new study revealed that foods that are not particularly healthy, high in saturated fat and carb content can make you feel more stressed than ever. Let us dive into the scientific explanation behind it.
Research Claims High Fat Food Can Make You Feel More Stressed: How?
This particular study was conducted by the experts at the University of Birmingham. They revealed that food high in fat content can not only worsen a person’s mood and increase their stress levels but also lead to brain oxygenation and reduced vascular function.
Stress impacts our entire body including the organs. The blood pressure and heart rate spikes up, the blood vessels dilate and there is increased flow of blood to the brain. But, along with this, the elasticity of the blood vessels starts to decline due to stress, which can hamper vascular function. This study found out that if you eat fatty foods during this time when you are highly stressed, it can reduce vascular function by 1.74 per cent which in turn increases you risk of cardiovascular diseases. There have been studies on this earlier which revealed that a 1 per cent decrease in vascular function increase the risk of heart disease by almost 13 per cent. This is a very serious issue.
Eating Fatty Foods Can Exacerbate Risk Of Heart Illnesses
There is more to eating fatty foods other than it risking your heart health. Research suggests that your heart health may be at higher risk if you eat these foods while you are experiencing chronic stress and it will also increase your stress levels. In the simplest words, it means that comfort foods may not be as comforting as you think. The study conducted experiments on people and witnessed that people who ate fatty foods while they were stressed experienced reduced arterial elasticity in 90 minutes.
Healthy Food Can Help You Cope With Stress Better
People think that eating your favourite food will help lessen the stress but they forget that foods that make you happy hardly has any nutritious quotient. The less the nutrition the less the chance of stress reduction. Moreover, the fat and salt content may actually increase your heart rate and blood pressure even more. But, if you choose to much on healthy foods which contain a lot of vitamins, minerals, anti-inflammatory properties, antioxidants and calming properties, it will help reduce your stress as well as keep your heart safe and healthy.
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