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How does stress affect hormones and weight?
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
Now we will talk about how stress, depression and chronic fatigue affect our weight and hormonal balance. Did you think that by being nervous we lose weight? Quite the opposite: from a bad mental state we can gain weight. And the consequences for the body can be very serious.
Chronic fatigue syndrome
This is a condition in which a person is lethargic, has poor performance, irritability, mood swings and weight fluctuations. Note that chronic fatigue syndrome mostly affects women - 70%, and 30% of men.
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How do hormones affect excess weight when you are tired?
After 35 years, women experience a decrease in the level of estradiol in their blood. However, the level of male hormones – androgens – increases. This is accompanied by a decrease in the production of hormones by the thyroid gland, which weakens significantly. The amount of insulin decreases, which means that there will be more sugar in the blood, which contributes to weight gain.
In addition, due to the low level of sugar in the blood (glucose), we stop receiving the same amount of energy, which is why we move little and accumulate more and more fat deposits.
As for the work of the ovaries, which also produce sex hormones, it also slows down with age. Then women feel an outflow of vital energy and weakness. This is what chronic fatigue syndrome is and why it contributes to the accumulation of extra pounds.
Risk group for chronic fatigue syndrome
- These are girls with irregular periods and polycystic ovary syndrome.
- Middle-aged women with chronic pain syndrome
- Nursing mothers whose sex hormones are suppressed by the production of hormones responsible for milk production, in particular prolactin
- Women diagnosed with infertility
- Women during menopause (when the balance of hormones in the body is disturbed)
Know that if you undergo hormone replacement therapy and increase the level of estradiol and testosterone in the blood to normal, the metabolism will be activated, which means that fats will be burned more actively. And vice versa: a low level of these hormones in the body contributes to fatigue, a slow metabolism and excess weight gain.
This means that you need to constantly monitor your health and change your sleep, rest and treatment regimen in time to the optimal one prescribed by your doctor.
How does depression affect excess weight?
It is a proven fact that depression is the culprit of excess weight. According to statistics, women are its most frequent victims. And they also gain extra pounds under the influence of depression more often than men.
Increased appetite in women can occur as a result of:
- Hormonal imbalance
- Depressive state
How can we determine which of the reasons is real and which is fictitious? Or perhaps both reasons have the right to be recognized?
Take the calendar in your hands
To determine what is the cause of excess weight: in a depressive state or hormonal imbalance, do some calculations. Observe when your mood is catastrophically bad: a week (10 days) before the onset of menstruation or it does not depend on the onset of menstruation.
If the culprit of excess weight is a hormonal imbalance, then a bad mood will be especially noticeable a week before menstruation. At this time, the hormones progesterone and estradiol compete with each other. Their imbalance causes mood swings.
And a day or two before the onset of menstruation or in the first or second day after its onset, the level of estradiol in the blood drops significantly. This, in turn, affects the functioning of the nervous system. Your mood also leaves much to be desired, you most often notice its changes.
What other symptoms can be observed with hormonal imbalance?
- Irritability and lethargy
- A woman tends to become touchy, scream and cry over trifles.
- Sleep is intermittent, often disturbed, and nightmares may occur.
- There are attacks of increased anxiety, increased heart rate
- A woman may sweat frequently and profusely, especially at night (due to decreased levels of the hormone estradiol)
Risk group
- Women during menopause
- Women before menopause
- Women (and even girls) with irregular periods
What other hormones are involved in weight gain?
When you are stressed, your cortisol and insulin levels increase, which slows down your metabolism and increases the risk of fat deposition. In this case, you need to see a doctor not for a sedative, which can only worsen the process of weight gain, but for hormone replacement therapy. It will help to restore the balance of hormones in the blood and cope with the situation with extra pounds.