We've all been told, again and again, about the damaging effects being overweight has on one's health. But how many of us realize that the gaining of weight around people's middles 'is not a cause, its an effect' ?
Research findings increasingly show that chronic stress IS literally POISON to Americans' health, causing strongly negative, lifetime damage to people's health. The black/white health gap? Lots of evidence suggests stress is one cause. (exposures to toxics are others)
Research makes it crystal clear that there isn't just "a connection" between chronic stress and health, chronic stress is a major cause of dozens of serious, costly diseases that suck trillions out of our economy.
One of them is obesity. (which scientists often call "adiposity") Obesity as well as other systemic changes to the body and brain, is caused by a feedback loop driven by the release of stress hormones - especially over time. This happens via many pathways, and the combined effects are beginning to be recognized as a cumulative phenomenon called allostatic load (or "allostasis").