Obesity and Overeating

Obesity has been under the microscope so to speak for over 50 years. Study upon study has added to the stockpile of information attempting to define, and understand the issue. One obvious connection that is often included in obesity studies is overeating. Early studies indicated that the reason for overeating lay solely at the door of anxiety.

Anxiety is no longer pointed at as the sole reason behind overeating. When taken into consideration as a whole there are more than enough studies with more than enough findings to conclude decisively that overeating is a phenomenon that crosses all social and economic and racial boundaries.

Further studies conducted throughout the last several decades have led experts to believe that rather than anxiety...it is emotion that rules when it comes to overeating. At least this is true when the subjects being studied are obese individuals. This connection between emotion and overeating is apparent in both obese individuals seeking treatment and obese individuals not seeking treatment.

Characteristics of overeating amongst the obese often include secrecy, the absence of any real hunger, and favorite high calorie/high fat foods. The emotions leading to the overeating range depending upon the individual. Overeating is often the response to the following emotions: anger, frustration, stress, depression, boredom, loneliness and anxiety.

Emotional distress seems to trigger overeating in obese individuals more than normal weight individuals according to study findings. Although coming up with accurate conclusions is difficult considering it is difficult to come up with an accurate "normal weight" control group for any obesity study. Studies typically utilize college students as their control participants so the socioeconomic variables are very limited when comparing the control group to an actual random selection of "normal weight" individuals.

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