Stress Eating and Effects on Health

Abstract

Stress eating is a behavioral response that is the increase or decrease in food consumption, often used to help cope with difficult situations. Stress eating is present within both genders, a wide variety of age groups, and among multiple ethnicities. The purpose of this paper is to look at the causes and effects, coping strategies, and treatments of stress eating. Research has been conducted on the causes and effects, coping strategies, and treatments of stress eating. However, there are still many unanswered questions of how to reduce this behavior. With chronic life conditions such as obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease on a steady rise, it is more imperative than ever to change the American lifestyle. These chronic conditions are increasing the mortality rate of those that are affected, but not before being passed down through heredity. Individuals can bypass predisposition to these diseases if diet and lifestyle are monitored carefully. The studies reviewed in this paper share common conclusions and data. Although women are more likely to engage in stress eating, it still occurs among men. Stress eating is a precursor to becoming obese as well as other life-threatening conditions. Future research should focus on examining the diet patterns of a mixed group of participants with these chronic health conditions and determining when stress eating appears in the life cycle.