- With Mayo Clinic psychiatrist
Daniel K. Hall-Flavin, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Daniel K. Hall-Flavin, M.D.
Daniel K. Hall-Flavin, M.D.
Dr. Daniel Hall-Flavin, board certified in general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry, is a St. Louis native looking to the Internet as a way to help people improve their health and be more active participants in their own health care by learning from Mayo Clinic's experts.
Dr. Hall-Flavin has been a member of the faculties of Cornell University Medical College, New York Medical College, and The George Washington University Medical School before joining the Mayo Clinic staff in 1996. He has special interests in adult psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and psychogenomics. He has served as medical director of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence from 1986 to 1999.
"With the advent of the genomics and proteomics revolution and the pace of advances in medicine, informed collaborative relationships between knowledgeable, capable health professionals and informed, proactive individuals and their families are more vital than ever," he said.
"I'm optimistic that our Internet health education activities will contribute to ever-improving health outcomes for all who participate and apply what is learned."
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Question
Stress: Can it cause weight gain?
Does emotional stress cause weight gain?
Answer
from Daniel K. Hall-Flavin, M.D.
Some people do tend to gain weight when under stress. When you're stressed out, you may find it more difficult to maintain healthy-eating habits. Also, many people may eat in an attempt to fulfill emotional needs during a particularly stressful time. These and other factors can contribute to stress-related weight gain.
However, some popular diet books suggest that a hormone — cortisol — secreted by your body during stress actually causes you to gain weight. It is true that prolonged exposure to very high levels of cortisol — such as due to Cushing's syndrome — can result in weight gain. Cushing's syndrome is a medical condition in which your adrenal glands make too much cortisol.
Emotional stress in some people may cause mild, temporary increases in cortisol. But there is no evidence that the amount of cortisol produced by a healthy individual under stress is enough to cause weight gain. Rarely, chronic stress — stress that lasts months or years, instead of days or weeks — may elevate cortisol levels sufficiently enough and for a long enough period to cause weight gain. A blood test can check your cortisol level.
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