Stress-induced obesity and the emotional nervous system

By M. Dallman. Trends in endocrinology and metabolism, 2009

821 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Stress and emotional brain networks foster eating behaviors that may lead to obesity. The neural networks underlying the complex interactions among stressors, body, brain and food intake are now better understood. Stressors, by activating a neural stress-response network, bias cognition toward increased emotional activity and degraded executive function. This causes formed habits to be used rather than a cognitive appraisal of responses. Stress also induces secretion of both glucocorticoids, which increases motivation for food, and insulin, which promotes food intake and obesity. Pleasurable feeding then reduces activity in the stress-response network, reinforcing the feeding habit. These effects of stressors emphasize the importance of teaching mental reappraisal techniques to restore responses from habitual to thoughtful, thus battling stress-induced obesity.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Psychology, Endocrine and Autonomic Systems

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/de4808f2bdec2011eb4d3b70d610d85a76a3fb3f

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Citations in the corpus

Stress and Obesity. (2019, background): “Stress independently triggers dopamine release, as reliably shown in nonhuman animals (Dallman 2010) and in a few human studies (Pruessner et al. 2004, Wand et al. 2007), and this dopamine release has further downstream effects on food seeking and eating (Dallman 2010).”
From prediction error to incentive salience: mesolimbic computation of reward motivation (2012, background): “Finally, the neurobiological state factor also includes stress states involving elevated corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) signals in mesocorticolimbic circuits that can recruit dopamine participation (Pecina et al., 2006a; Berridge et al., 2010; Dallman, 2010).”
The tempted brain eats: pleasure and desire circuits in obesity and eating disorders. (2010, neutral): “Stress promotes eating of palatable foods in about 30% of the population (Dallman et al., 2003; Dallman, 2010).”
Reward Mechanisms in Obesity: New Insights and Future Directions (2011, background): “It is important to point out that the precise effects of stress on food consumption in humans and laboratory animals is dependent on the nature and magnitude of the stressor, the type of food available for consumption (palatable versus bland), body weight and gender (Dallman, 2010).”