Stress eating, otherwise known as emotional eating, is a habitual eating pattern where people use food to help them cope with difficult situations. Most of us experience this at one time or another – eating chocolate when we are bored at work or ordering a takeaway to cheer us up after a difficult day.

Emotional eating is both physical and psychological and is a coping mechanism to help alleviate painful or challenging emotions and situations. 

When we are stressed, our brains release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These are our fight or flight hormones and affect the way we perceive and respond to a threat.  For some people, the onset of these stress hormones will result in emotional issues such as depression and anxiety and the emergence of addictive behaviours as a coping mechanism.