Stress hormone may be linked to obesity, study suggests
USA Today (2/23, Rossman) reports that research suggests “long-term exposure to the stress hormone cortisol” may be linked “to increased levels of obesity and wider waists.” Investigators “collected years of hair samples of about 2,500 people.” The researchers “found obese participants had significantly higher levels of cortisol…than people who were normal weight or overweight.”
CNN (2/23, Lamotte) reports that “the release of cortisol…says” lead author Sarah Jackson, “is triggered by receptors that are densely located in visceral fat tissue, the type that surrounds our organs, which may explain its association with weight gain and loss.” The findings were published in Obesity.
Social media increasing stress levels in Americans, study says
Bloomberg News (2/23, Shanker) reports that last week the American Psychological Association “released a study finding that Americans were experiencing the first statistically significant stress increase in the survey’s 10-year history.” Bloomberg explains that “in January, 57 percent of respondents of all political stripes said the U.S. political climate was a very or somewhat significant source of stress, up from 52 percent who said the same thing in August.” Meanwhile, “on Thursday, the” group “released the second part of its findings,” which indicated “43 percent of Americans say they are checking their e-mails, texts, or social media accounts constantly. And their stress levels are paying for it: On a 10-point scale, constant checkers reported an average stress level of 5.3.”
