Most people admit that when they're under stress, healthy eating habits go out the window. One often eats to fill an emotional need or grab fast food simply because there's no time for something healthy; a stressed-out lifestyle is rarely a healthy one. But weight gain when under stress may also be at least partly due to the body's system of hormonal checks and balances, which can actually promote weight gain when you're stressed out, according to some researchers.
Cortisol is a hormone with many actions in the body. I like to think of it as “the running away from the bear’ hormone. It helps the body preserve itself and get away from danger by effecting blood pressure and energy. Cortisol has been termed the "stress hormone" because excess cortisol is secreted during times of physical or psychological stress. Studies have shown that stress and elevated cortisol tend to cause fat deposition. Several studies show massage reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol while boosting the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine. Those changes slow your heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and block your nervous system's pain receptors. Massage also increases blood flow to the muscles, which may help them heal. It often makes you feel good about yourself which then helps you make better food choices.
It could therefore follow that regular massage would help reduce cortisol and stress levels and could thus help with weight loss. Of course weight loss is dependent on a number of factors including resting metabolic rate, food intake, amount of exercise, and especially the types of food consumed and the times of day it is consumed.
So, try a good structured weight loss program and regular massage therapy to see the fat melt off your body!!!
