Diet and lack of exercise are known to
contribute to obesity. Thus, health
professionals prescribe slimming and physical
exercise, and so do dozens of media messages
and commercials. But Norwegian researchers
suggest diet and lack of exercise alone are not
enough to explain the worldwide rise in
obesity. They raised the question of whether
stress is involved, since a number of studies
show that weight gain and the stress hormone
cortisol are noticeable higher in people who
became fatter because of stress. Biologist
Brynjar Foss says if you have high levels of
cortisol you seem to put on weight more
easily, and when your weight goes up your
body also comes under stress. Another issue
is that dieting can also stimulate cortisol
production, which in turn may trigger the
stress response and counter weight loss. He
says if their hypothesis is correct, a person will
have to break the stress pattern to halt weight
gain.