The area of the brain lateral habenula produces a mild unpleasant sensation while one might be having a fat-rich diet, thus causing the person to stop eating after some time.
Do you order a burger when you hit an obstacle or when you might be upset? You are not alone. For many people, food becomes a source of comfort when faced with emotional difficulties. When a person eats as a response to difficult emotions, it is called emotional eating. Having certain foods can activate the reward system in our bodies. A new study has shown that eating comfort food in times of stress can switch off the brain region that prevents our body from over-eating.
Comfort foods are typically high in fat or calories. These foods can provide temporary relief from the stressful situation. Stressful situations can be perceived as a source of threat to our bodies. Under normal circumstances, the area of the brain called the lateral habenula produces a mild unpleasant sensation while one might be having a fat-rich diet, thus causing the person to stop eating after some time. However, the new study found that this area can get silenced in times of stress and while a person might engage in consuming comfort food, there would be no active mechanism that could prevent them from over-eating.
Why this might be happening?
Eating is crucial for survival. Wild animals, who don’t get the privilege of finding food whenever they want, might practice eating quick chunks of food to prepare themselves against a threat. While this might not applicable to human beings but our bodies might perceive stress or emotional difficulties as a threat to our survival.
The study, published in the Journal Neuron worked on chronically stressed mice and found that the area lateral habenula stayed comparatively silent in them as they consumed high-fat food. The mice kept eating without being satiated. A similar thing could happen to human beings when they might be stressed and bank upon food as a quick fix.
From a survival point of view, high-fat foods provide a way to gain energy quickly and are a coping mechanism for wild animals.
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Today, though we are not literally in threat our bodies might perceive emotional stress as one.
As per some quoted experts, having high-fat food in times of stress is comparable to drinking alcohol to calm oneself down. In the longer run, it is harmful to health.
Signs of emotional eating
There are ways you can differentiate physical hunger from emotional hunger. This can prevent you from overeating or engaging in binge eating and can also encourage you to overcome it. The following are some differences-
- While physical hunger develops slowly, emotional hunger will come on suddenly
- When a person is eating as a response to difficult emotions, they won’t feel satiated easily
- Physical hunger is triggered when you might have not eaten for a while, emotional hunger might emerge when there is a need for comfort or soothing.
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