Stress Could Be Reason For Lack Of Weight Loss

DETROIT (WWJ) - If you're having a hard time losing weight it could be from too much stress.

Researchers compared the stress levels and body weight of more than twenty-five hundred men and women over the age of fifty-four. They examined locks of hair for cortisol over a two-month period.

Cortisol is a hormone that is secreted by the adrenal glands and it tends to ramp up during times of stress. The study results show a connection between the stress hormone cortisol and weight gain.

"People who had higher BMI's had higher levels of cortisol, and people who had higher waist circumference, kind of carrying their weight in the middle, also had that higher level of cortisol," psychologist Leslie Heinberg told WWJ's Deanna Lites.

One reason for the link between stress and weight gain is because healthy habits like getting a good night's rest, exercise and eating a healthy diet, are harder to keep up when we feel like we're maxed out. So you have to be mindful of keeping a healthy lifestyle even when the stresses of life pile on.