OTP: Holiday Health Woes

Study: Holiday Stress Pushing More Women to Comfort Eating, Which Can
Cause Health Problems
December 17, 2006 09: 22
By RODRIQUE NGOWI

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Emi Fujiwara's holidays can hardly be called that
as she juggles a full-time job and evening studies and tries to find
money and time to buy presents, organize parties and cook for family
and friends.

The 26-year-old trainee nurse, who works at a children's hospital, says
she indulges in comfort eating during what she describes as the most
stressful time of the year. The seemingly endless invitations to
parties and dinners make it easier to overeat, she said.

"Well, I am a cracker-and-cheese and wine kind of girl. Once I see all
that out there, it is trouble for me," she said after going to the gym
for the first time in weeks, seeking to burn off excess calories.

Nearly half of all women in the United States suffer from increased
stress during the holidays, a condition that contributes to rising
levels of comfort eating, drinking and other coping mechanisms that can
lead to weight gain, according to a survey conducted in October by the
American Psychological Association.

A national stress survey the association conducted in January showed
one in four people in the United States agrees that "when I am feeling
down or facing a problem, I turn to food to help me feel better." The
October survey showed that the proportion increases to one in three
people during the holidays.

Comfort eating and unhealthy drinking increases among men too, but is
more common among women.

Forty-one percent of women in the survey agreed that they eat for
comfort during the holidays, compared with 31 percent during the rest
of the year. Among men, 25 percent report holiday-season comfort
eating, compared with 19 percent during the year, according to the
survey.

Others may not even notice gaining weight, said Russ Newman, the
association's executive director for professional practice.

"This time of year everyone is bundled up, so you don't really realize
it until springtime when you have to pull out the T-shirts, the tank
tops and that sort of thing," Fujiwara said.

The holiday season is the most emotional time of the year for many
Americans, particularly for women who often feel pressured to make it
special to those they care about, said Sharon Gordetsky, a psychologist
who specializes in children, families and issues of female development.

Even in families where fathers play a bigger role in parenting, child
caring and household work, "women tend to often still do more of the
planning, do more of the nurturing, do more of the social and family
organization" for the holidays, said Gordetsky, an assistant professor
at the Tufts-New England Medical Center's Comprehensive Family
Evaluation Center.

Too true, said Sissy McPhearson, who teaches while working on a
dissertation at Harvard University's Divinity School.

"My husband and I both work and normally we divide household tasks
equally. But during the holidays he doesn't care as much about
decorating the house or wrapping presents or hosting dinners _ so I end
up doing it all even though I work full-time" for about 70 hours a
week, she said.

McPhearson says the stress of preparing for holidays, plus increased
invitations to go out, makes it easier for many to reach out for that
extra drink.

"I go out a lot more now, maybe three or four nights a week ... and
have a couple of drinks. Usually I just go out maybe once a week," she
said.

Women have to take care of themselves if they are to be able to take
care of others, Gordetsky said.

Among the healthier methods experts recommend to cope with the holiday
stress are opting for less elaborate festivities and saying no to that
serving of delicious roast beef, lasagna, chocolate or chilled glass of
white wine.

"Exercise helps. I work out ... and I am getting a massage Tuesday,"
McPhearson said.

The holiday stress survey was conducted Oct. 2-5 by the
Washington-based Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner Research. The telephone
poll, with a margin or error of plus or minus 3.5 percent, reached 369
men and 417 women and was weighted by gender, age, race and education.

___

On The Net:

American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org


.... I overwatered my silk plants; they turned brown and died.