Study: Stressful home environment can make children obese

It appears that stress doesn’t just make adults seek refuge in a bag of potato chips. Kids also turn to food to avoid dealing with stressful situations. According to a recent Reuters UK report, children raised in stressful home environments are more likely to be fat.

The data is from a study of nearly 7,500 Swedish families that were tracked from the time the family’s children were born until the children turned 5 or 6. Parents were asked to report on various stress factors including family accident or illness, death, divorce, unemployment, exposure to violence, as well as parenting difficulties, spouse relationship issues, lack of social support and worries about child’s health and development.

The study found that children who lived in high stress situations were at much greater risk for becoming obese. Sounds like a compelling argument to de-stress your life. If not for yourself, then for your children.