Relationship between stress, weight, and heart disease?

Is it true that people under stress are more likely to gain more weight? Is it because they produce more cortisol than others? Also, why people under stress are prone to heart disease?

"Is it true that people under stress are more likely to gain more weight? Is it because they produce more cortisol than others?"

yes and yes.

way before walmart and microwave ovens, when the body experienced stress it meant one of two things:
a) famine
b) injusry resulting in blood loss

In the past couple of centuries are sources of stress have dramatically changed, however our body response mechanisms have not.

One of these response mechanisms is to increase cortisol production. Cortisol increases the amount of glucose circulating in the blood and promotes the break down of muscle to be used for energy. Fortunately, these drastic measures were lifesaving to our ancestors... however, they are not so good for our girth now-a-days.




Concerning stress and heart disease---same sort of deal:
Stress = famine or blood loss.

The body's circulatory system depends on having a certain amount of pressure throughout the system. The pressure is created when the volume of blood is squeezed to where it needs to go.

If that pressure is absent the body can't circulate nutrients and oxygen to the tissues, and the person will go into "hypovolemic shock".


Therefore, when the body is under stress it assumes that it must be loosing blood and that the blood pressure is dropping. THerefore it will take measures increase blood volume and pressure.

This can be done in many ways, such as, causing the heart to contract more forcefully, constricting the peripheral blood vessels, retaining abnormal amounts of salt which increases water retention (which is why people with high blood pressure are placed on a low salt diet), etc.

While this too can make the difference between life and death in the short term if you are hemorrhaging, years and years of such responses are very hard on the heart, because ultimately the heart is having to work much harder, not only because the brain is telling it to contract more forcefully, but also because it is difficult to pump against high blood pressure.