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Binge Eating: Dealing with Strained Finances
Financial strain stresses more than the pocketbook. Research shows money problems break up marriages; cause migraines, muscle tension, even heart attacks; and money issues can drive someone to binge eating as a way to release the stress.
Americans Rack Up Debt
The average American carries $15,706 in credit card debt, and up to 16 million people are in financial distress, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. When people are dealing with significant debt, they are more likely to report health problems, according to the Associated Press-AOL Health Poll.
The poll found people seriously stressed about finances were twice as likely to have a heart attack than those who didn’t worry over their financial situation. Obviously, finances are a major stressor, which may be soothed, albeit temporarily, by binge eating.
Binge Eating Disorder for Soothing Stress
Binge eating disorder is defined by recurrent, persistent episodes of binge eating – consuming unusually large amounts of food beyond fullness – without compensatory behaviors, like purging. BED is the most common eating disorder in the United States, where about 3.5% of women and 2% of men have the illness.
What is Cortisol?
Cortisol is secreted by adrenal glands when we’re under prolonged stress; and this cortisol increases appetite and may also “ramp up motivation in general, including the motivation to eat, according to a Harvard Health report.
Cortisol levels should go down when the stressful episode is over, but when the stress is long-term, as financial problems often are, or if a person’s stress response gets stuck, the hormones stay raised. Chronic overeating may result.
This cortisol may also be the reason people typically binge on food high in fat, sugar or both.
Numerous studies, although many of them done on animals like rats, show emotional distress increases the intake of high-fat, high-sugar foods. Somewhat mysteriously, foods filled with fat and sugar, the Harvard Health report continues, inhibits activity in parts of the brain that process stress and related emotions. “The foods really are ‘comfort’ foods in that they seem to counteract stress – and this may contribute to people’s stress-induced craving for those foods,” it says.
Debt Leads to Stress
If debt is the source of stress, and the reason cortisol levels are up, it’s likely to be a long-term problem. It takes about three years to pay off $10,000 in debt, give or take, and that’s $5,000 less than the average American carries just in credit cards.
This cortisol surge may be experienced differently by people with binge eating disorder (BED). One study gave a stress test to 16 obese individuals, half of whom had BED, the other half didn’t, to measure how they processed the experience. Following the stress test, cortisol levels were about the same in all 16 individuals, but the desire to binge and the craving for sweets were significantly higher in the BED group; and the reaction was related to stress, anxiety, and cortisol response in the BED group only.
Although obesity is associated with decreased levels of cortisol, this relationship may be lost in patients with BED, for whom the severity of binge eating may be a more relevant regulator of cortisol secretion than obesity itself.
Extra Financial Strain due to Binge Eating
Financial difficulties also caused increased susceptibility to eating disorders in a group of 444 female college students involved in a recent study. Greater financial problems and lower family affluence predict worsening eating attitudes over time in the students. “It may be that those at higher risk of having eating disorder feel like they have no control over events in their life, such a their financial situation,” the researchers wrote.
BED is the most common eating disorder in the United States, where about 3.5% of women and 2% of men have the illness. BED is characterized by recurrent, persistent episodes of binge eating – consuming unusually large amounts of food beyond fullness – without compensatory behaviors, like purging.
When individuals experience financial woes – statistics show many of us will – they must be aware of how other aspects of life are affected. Binge eating can only make matters worse. On average, bingeing costs about $30.50 for the additional food, which adds up to almost $1,600 a year.
About the Author:
Leigh Bell holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with minors in Creative Writing and French from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She is a published author, journalist with 15 years of experience, and a recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. Leigh is recovered from a near-fatal, decade-long battle with anorexia and the mother of three young, rambunctious children.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals. We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on September 18, 2015. Published on EatingDisorderHope.com
The EatingDisorderHope.com editorial team comprises experienced writers, editors, and medical reviewers specializing in eating disorders, treatment, and mental and behavioral health.
