Why Do People Begin Emotionally Eating?
Stress eating is something that has become a major issue over the past decade. It can lead to worse mental health and physical health problems like obesity. So why do people start emotionally eating? Luckily Healthline has the answer to this question.
Emotional eating can be caused by a lot of different issues. Some common reasons that people start using eating as a coping mechanism includes: financial issues, health worries, work stress, and relationship problems.
Those who have been on restrictive diets in the past are also more likely to start emotionally eating. Another internal problem that can cause this behavior includes alexithymia, which is a condition that causes you to have trouble understanding, processing, or describing emotions. Emotional dysregulation and a lack of introspective awareness can also lead to a bad relationship with food. The longer that food is used to cope with things, the harder the habit is to break.
Why is food used to cope?
Eating leads to a release in dopamine, one of the brains happy chemicals that makes you feel better. This can lead to food being abused to get this dopamine release anytime a person becomes stressed or upset.
Habits can also change our relationship with food. If you eat every time you get stressed, it becomes a habit and you’ll start to reach for food at the first sign of any problem without even noticing it. Food is also legal everywhere, of course, so it’s very easy to obtain and is hard to avoid seeing.
Breaking a habit can be difficult, but if you notice that you’re eating when you’re stressed or upset and not hungry, it might be a good idea to try and find other more healthy coping skills.
