I'm stressed - give me chocolate!

Last updated at 14:27 03 June 2004


Women who face the stress of noise at home or at work crave unhealthy junk snacks, according to new research.

Exposure to noise leads women to crave chocolate, crisps, popcorn, cheese and other unhealthy snacks, according to the American study.

But men did not develop the same cravings, according to researchers at Penn State University in Pennsylvania.

Previous studies have linked stress with comfort eating.

But the new research suggested that food cravings went on long after women were subjected to noise stress.

Vulnerable after stress

Dr Laura Klein, assistant professor of bio-behavioural health who led the study, said: "This is the first study to show that eating is affected in some individuals after a stress is stopped.

"In daily life, people often rise to the occasion to deal with stress.

"The real window of vulnerability may be after the stress is over.

"For example, women exposed to a week of frustrating job stress could be especially vulnerable to overeating on the weekends," she said.

In the experiments, 29 men and 34 women, ages 18 to 45, were divided into three groups and asked to solve maths and geometry problems.

In the first group, participants were subjected to the noise of a jack hammer during the test. While the subjects were given the opportunity to turn the sound off, none did.

The second group was also exposed to the noise but not given the option to turn it off. A third group worked in peace and quiet.

After completing the puzzles, the three groups were brought snacks and given another test.

Women who has been exposed to the noise ate more of the snacks overall, especially the high-fat crisps, cheese and chocolate.

But the men ate the same amount of snacks regardless of which group they were in.

Puzzle problems

Meanwhile, the stressed women were less persistent at completing the second puzzle, but men were equally determined to crack it regardless of their exposure to the noise.

The study said: "One possibility is that, for men, noise exposure may have engendered feelings of competition and a desire to assert control or to win."

The study's findings are published in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Most watched News videos