Obesity and Psychology

What is the relationship between obesity and psychology?

Obesity is a chronic disease caused by daily energy intake exceeding energy expenditure and characterized by an increase in body fat tissue. Just as genetic, socioeconomic conditions, environmental factors, and nutritional habits are effective in the development of obesity, psychological problems are also influential. If a person does not have any of these factors that can cause weight gain, then the underlying cause of their eating behavior must be found. This process is provided by a Psychologist. When we look at the psychological dimension of eating, we first need to look at the relationship between the brain and nutrition.

How does our brain affect our eating behavior?

The brain is the organ that regulates the vital functions of our body and also regulates our digestive function. There are almost 10 billion neurons, or nerve cells, in our brain. There are some studies suggesting that nerve cells are also found in our stomach. This could be an example explaining why our stomach hurts or gets hungry when we are stressed.

Apart from this, there is a region in our brain called the reward system, and a neurotransmitter called dopamine is secreted in this region. The pleasure we feel when we eat increases dopamine uptake, and our reward system is affected. In this way, a connection is established by the brain between eating and experiencing pleasure, and when we turn to eating to get pleasure every time we are stressed, our brain can develop an addiction to eating. This region, which is also responsible for alcohol or other substance addictions, is also influential in the development of eating addiction in impulsive (unable to control themselves) individuals. In addition to dopamine, sweet foods such as chocolate and sugar secrete happiness hormones like serotonin and endorphins. Your desire to eat sweets when you are unhappy stems from this. To overcome this, you need to find different methods that will make you happy and develop positive stress coping methods, again accompanied by a Psychologist.

A region of our brain (the prefrontal cortex) is responsible for regulating emotions and controlling behaviors. However, studies have revealed that a decrease in the number of d2 (dopamine receptors) in the brain reduces activity in this region, which is why addicts cannot control themselves and their emotions. Individuals who cannot achieve this control cannot control their eating either, resulting in eating disorders and obesity.

What psychological factors other than the brain cause obesity?

In light of this information, the importance of the phrase “changing the brain” in the weight loss process is better understood. In addition to the person’s brain, that is, their thoughts about eating behavior; situations such as the inability to self-regulate, inability to control emotions, childhood traumas, negative family relationships, loneliness, boredom, and inability to cope with stress also cause overeating. If the person’s unhealthy eating behavior stems from these reasons, they should get rid of dysfunctional thoughts towards eating with the support of a Psychologist and make a permanent transition to a healthy life by moving away from the “obese brain”. Because it has been proven by research that by treating the psychological distress that triggers obesity and causes the person to engage in eating behaviors, the person can permanently get rid of their excess weight.