Dr. Don WoodResolving Your Trauma-Based Challenges So You Can Unlock Peak Performance

How to keep COVD-19 anxiety low and avoid unwanted weight gain

29 Mar 2020 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:18

A short YouTube video by Dr. Don Wood (Inspired Performance Institute) explaining how stress during the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to unwanted weight gain. He describes a physiological pathway: stress increases cortisol, which affects insulin and glucose handling so excess glucose is stored as fat and may trigger carbohydrate cravings; he advises reducing stress and promotes the Inspired Performance Institute website for tips to manage stress and avoid weight gain.

Chapters

Hi, I'm Dr. Don Wood from the Inspired Performance Institute. Did you know that the COVID 19, the coronavirus, can actually make you gain weight? Little different surprise, right? Actually, it's not the virus that's actually going to help you gain weight. What actually is happening is, is that because we're under stress, we're producing cortisol. Cortisol is going to allow insulin to release because insulin is used to convert that energy, that glucose, into energy for the cells. The problem is, is that if there's too much and we're under a lot of stress, there's too much cortisol being produced, that extra glucose will be converted into fat, so into sugar into fat, because it's going to be stored. Because the pancreas is overworking, can't produce enough insulin. Also, too, the cells are looking for that energy, can't get that energy, so it's crying out. So then that may start producing crav carbohydrate foods to produce more energy. So the key is to be able to reduce the stress. And that's something that we can really help with at the Inspired Performance Institute. Check out our site and we'll show you different ways and different tips to try to reduce stress, which will also help you to not put the weight on. How does that sound? See you soon.