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Stress is one of the important topics covered in the textbook and, as such, merits a thorough investigation on its own. Stress and Obesity, an article by A. Janet Tomiyama, covers the interrelation between the two issues listed in the title and their mutual influence in psychological terms. The author is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology of the University of California, specializing in health psychology and social psychology ( Faculty Page A. Janet Tomiyama ). As such, she is qualified to write on the topic, and the article is published in a reputable journal Annual Reviews of Psychology allows designating it as an authoritative professional source. According to Dr. Tomiyama, stress and obesity are closely linked together via eating behaviors and weight stigma and may create a vicious cycle where they promote each other.
The article begins with a hypothesis that stress can affect metabolic processes and, as a result, contribute to obesity. The author admits that the idea of a psychological experience influencing body mass may seem far-fetched (Tomiyama 5.2). However, she also points out that it makes evolutionary sense because stress mechanisms help living organisms escape dangerous situations, and escape often required considerable metabolic effort (Tomiyama 5.2). Thus, the author acknowledges possible objections to her hypothesis and effectively addresses them.
The next part of the article covers how stress may influence obesity. Psychologically speaking, stress may result in deteriorating cognition, which may, in turn, impede self-regulation mechanisms and result in overeating, insufficient physical exercise, and loss of sleep (Tomiyama 5.3-5.5). This section is quite relatable: most people, including me, had experiences when they were so stressed that it was hard to do anything productive, much less exercise. In physiological terms, the stress hormone cortisol promotes overeating, especially in foods high in sugar, fat, and calories that trigger reward processing (Tomiyama 5.6). This notion is also easy to personally relate to since the idea of relieving stress by eating something tasty is likely familiar to everyone. Finally, from the biochemical perspective, stress may activate neuropeptide Y and hormones leptin and ghrelin, all of which connect to weight gain (Tomiyama 5.7-5.8). The section on biochemistry concludes the discussion of how stress influences obesity.
The next part elaborates on the different connections and covers how obesity may lead to a higher level of stress. The key idea of this section is that, within a strongly antifat culture, overweight people are usually stigmatized because of their body mass (Tomiyama 5.9). Consequently, weight stigma becomes a significant stress factor and, as such, may provoke the aforementioned reactions leading to weight gain.
Finally, the articles conclusion brings the two mutual influences together to describe a vicious cycle of stress promoting obesity and obesity resulting in more stress. Dr. Tomiyama discusses the practical implications of her research and points out that the current efforts in addressing obesity mainly concentrate on eating behaviors and often disregard the psychological aspects of the problem (5.10). However, focusing on eating while ignoring stress would mean treating symptoms rather than the cause, and the author finishes the article with a call for developing psychologically informed strategies for dealing with obesity.
Personally, I think that the article strikes a good balance between hard scientific evidence and simple and relatable conclusions. If the author had limited herself to purely psychological assumptions of stress impacting self-regulation and weight stigma causing stress, the article could devolve into retelling platitudes any layperson could devise. However, including ample evidence from physiology and biochemistry allows the author to complement an essentially simple hypothesis and conclusions with empirical evidence, resulting in a text that is well-grounded, readable, and easily relatable.
Works Cited
Faculty Page A. Janet Tomiyama. UCLA Psychology Department, 2020. Web.
Tomiyama, Janet A. Stress and Obesity. Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 70, no. 5, 2019, pp. 5.1-5.16. DiSH Lab, Web.
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