Effects of Stress on Obesity among Medical Students

Abstract

Obesity is when a person carries excess weight or body fat that affect on their health. BMI (body mass index) is a one of the tools for finding an appropriate weight for age, sex and height. 25< BMI < 29.9 shows excess weight. A BMI of 30 or over shows obesity. Obesity and overweight increase risk of a number of health conditions, including: metabolic syndrome such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and some types of cancer. There is different reasons for obesity like consuming too many calories, sedentary life style, lack of sleeping, endocrine problems, medication, stress and so on. In this review, the effects of stress on body weight is explained. Stress plays a major role in the presence of obesity. Cortisol is one of the main hormones involves in the biological stress response. Cortisol, a glucocorticoid hormone (GC), leads to redistribution of white adipose tissue to the abdominal region and increases appetite for energy-dense food. Chronical exposure to high levels of cortisol, like in Cushing’s syndrome or using high doses of exogenous GC, develops abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, and eventually cardiovascular diseases .This problem was investigated in a group which included the medical students who were under stress and also had obesity (2) .Then excluded any students with family history of obesity or who has any mental illness or under any anti-depressant medication . It was a retrospective observational study. A weight gain was observed in relation to stress .based on BMI. Stress in medical students is common especially in girls. Correlation between diet and PSI (Pound-force per square inch) showed that stress induced over eating behavior (1;2).