Stress Induced Eating & Eating Disorders

When reading about stressed induced eating it is easy to see how this can relate directly to eating disorders. Any person of any age can suffer from an eating disorder, whether it stems from childhood, is caused by a traumatic event, or simply everyday stress. Stress can cause someone to be on either side of the spectrum, over eating or under eating. Mirasol states, "Some of the sourced of chronic stress that may precipitate and/or maintain an eating disorder are sexual, physical, or emotional abuse, difficulty in relationships with family and peers, personal illness that requires hospitalization, alcohol or drug abuse, difficulty in school, serious illness of parent, and leaving home for the first time." These can be different triggers for those who suffer with an eating disorder. For someone in an unstable home environment, they might binge eat when nobody is home and restrict all foods and starve when family is present. Symptoms and triggers differ from person to person. 

People find comfort in food. When they are put in high stress situations and cortisol levels rise, sometimes food is the only thing they can think of to calm them down. This can lead to binge eating disorders where you are no longer consciously aware of how much you are eating and eat way over a normal portion size. This then leads to guilt and poor self esteem, which can cause stress. This can lead to a vicious cycle that can be extremely hard to overcome. Eating disorders are becoming more commonly discussed, as many celebrities are coming out and talking about their experience with previous, or ongoing, hardships. This is a great step in society as some people may feel alone in their journey and need help to get them out of their cycle. Stress induced eating disorders are definitely a heavy topic in today's society and need to stay being addressed more openly for those who need help. 

https://www.mirasol.net/learning-center/chronic-stress.php