Stress and Eating Behaviour

Abstract

Eating well helps keeps healthy and active and thus improves enjoyment of life. Good diets and eating habits are fundamental for proper growth and development and for the prevention of disease. A number of different health problems are caused by poor diets and poor nutrition. Many of these problems handicap people for their entire lives; some of them lead to death. Eating well for good health requires a basic knowledge of foods and the nutrients they provide and an understanding of nutritional needs throughout the various stages of life.1 Attitudes and behaviors toward eating are shaped by multitudinal factors including psychological factors and stress.2 Stress is one of a factor which may influence behaviors and health especially when an individual faces challenges that surpass his or her coping skills.3 Stress can be defined as “the generalized, non-specific response of the body to any factor that overwhelms, or threatens to overwhelm, the body's compensatory abilities to maintain homeostasis.4 Psychological stress, a perceived challenge to well being, is an indispensable and influential part of life. Although stress-causing factors vary greatly from person to person and between the genders, physiological reactions of the human body against stress are quite similar to each other. Physiological reactions such as high level blood pressure, ulcer, migraine, perspiration and fast-breathing cause psychological changes such as recession, anxiety, worry, accepting and depression as well. Learning how to manage stress may provide ability for an individual to give appropriate and sufficient reactions against prolonged and extreme stress.