Stress Consequences

Eat right? Exercise religiously? Too much stress in your life can lead to metabolic syndrome anyway, elevating your risk of diabetes and other health issues. The mechanism behind the connection? Inflammation.

Metabolic syndrome (also known as insulin resistance syndrome) is characterized by excess belly fat, high blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high fasting blood glucose. For a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, you need to be suffering from at least three of the five variables.

Researchers have found that not only is there a link between stress and metabolic syndrome, but that inflammation explains more than 60% of the association. Findings appear in the research journal Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health.

The bad news: It’s estimated the approximately one in three U.S. adults suffers from metabolic syndrome, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, metabolic syndrome increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke – or all three.

There’s good news, though: It stands to reason that reducing your stress can reduce the risk factors that lead to metabolic syndrome. As many of the variables are related to exercise and eating habits (when we’re stressed, we’re less likely to work out or eat right), it makes perfect sense.