Comfort Food for the Stressed Part 1: Eating or Reading?

We all have go-to methods of dealing with stress. Exercise, coloring books, sleep, and movies are just a few weapons we have in our arsenal of stress-combatting techniques.

One [unhealthy] alternative many people – including myself – turn to is known as “stress eating.” I will explain to the uninitiated: stress eating is the phenomenon in which high levels of stress create a raging sense of hunger for unhealthy snacks, often of the heavily salted or sickly sweet variety. Indulging in the eating of such snacks results in a food-induced sense of well-being, at least for a short period of time. I guess they call unhealthy foodstuffs “comfort food” for a reason.

I hope it is plain to see how this method of stress management is not healthy. In order to fight the plight of stress eating, I propose that we turn to a different type of comfort food: comfort food for the brain.

In a word: books.

 

Those of us who are bookworms might find that digging deep into the bookshelf instead of the pantry might be a better method for de-stressing. To really dig into the issue, let’s take a look at what is involved in stress eating and in stress reading.

 

Stress Eating

I explained what stress eating is above, but I didn’t examine the underlying motivation for it. In my experience, I actually often do feel hungry when I have a lot weighing on me – I like to say that I’m burning calories with all my thinking. However, I suspect that I’m not really hungry. Much like bored eating, I think I stress-eat in reaction to certain feelings.

“I feel stressed, so I’ll take off the edge with this piece of chocolate,” I say to myself. I also think it is easy to lose some self-control when stressed, which might make it easy to overindulge in comfort foods.

Stress Reading

Much like stress eating, I find myself flipping open a book cover in reaction to feelings of stress. Unlike the previous method, though, I have discovered that stress reading can act as a “reset button.” The experience of getting lost in a beloved story is enough to take my mind off my problems and, when reading is concluded, I can approach my many nagging tasks with a fresh outlook.

Stress eating might make me feel better, but I don’t get so lost in eating that I can ignore the stressors of life for a bit. This is one of the real benefits that stress reading provides that stress eating cannot. And, let’s not forget that reading a book is guaranteed to add fewer calories to your diet than stress eating.

Do your body – and mind – a favor. The next time you are stressed, reach for a book instead of the munchies.

Next time: How to Choose the Proper Stress-Reading Book