Are you finding that stubborn bulge around your belly won’t budge, no matter how many salads you eat or steps you take? As a pharmacist, I see this all the time – people stuck in a cycle of dieting and over-exercising, feeling perplexed that nothing seems to be working.  

What many of us don’t realise is the part chronic stress plays in your metabolism, by fuelling cortisol, wrecking insulin sensitivity, and redirecting fat straight to your belly. Add sugar to the cycle (especially if no chocolate Easter egg is safe around you this Easter), and things get worse. The good news is you can break free.

Can stress really be causing my belly bulge?  

Yes, sadly, it can! Chronic stress floods your system with cortisol, the body’s long-term stress hormone. This not only sabotages fat-burning but actively encourages fat storage, especially around the midsection.

Thanks to the trials and tribulations of modern life, our cortisol can easily be left ‘switched on’, creating the perfect conditions for a bulging belly. 

Four reasons how stress is messing with your metabolism

A 2022 review confirmed what many of us suspected – chronic stress is a major driver of weight gain and even obesity. And it’s not just because stress makes us eat more (although, it’ll make you do that too).  

1. Your hunger hormones go into overdrive  

Stress flips the switch on two key appetite regulators:

• Ghrelin –  The hunger hormone. Stress cranks up ghrelin, making you feel ravenous (even when you shouldn’t be).
• Leptin – The satiety hormone tells your brain you’re full. Chronic stress dulls leptin sensitivity, so your brain never quite gets the message that it’s time to move away from the dessert.

2. You find yourself craving calorie-rich food

Your sweet tooth isn’t just about willpower – it’s biology. When stress hits, your body preps for survival, flooding you with cortisol and craving quick energy (aka sugar). The problem? Your body can’t tell the difference between running from a tiger and running late on a deadline. So, while you reach for biscuits, you’re not exactly burning them off by sitting in the office chair. Those excess calories get stored as belly fat.  

3. Stress messes with your sleep, which also bolsters belly fat

Poor sleep increases ghrelin and lowers leptin, leaving you feeling hungrier than usual. 

Sleep loss disrupts insulin function, making it easier to store fat, especially around the midsection.

4. Stress snatches your energy

If you’re wiped out from chronic stress, your desire to exercise isn’t really going to be there. No one burns much fat by staying still.

What happens when you’re stressed – from brain to belly

When you’re stressed, you switch to fight-or-flight mode, activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and releasing adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline is the quick-fix energy burst. If stress is relentless – think too many deadlines, a rocky relationship, poorly parents and more, then those cortisol levels stay peaked, leading to: 

• Higher blood sugar – Your body pumps out glucose for emergency fuel, but if you’re consistently in a high-stress environment, that sugar isn’t being used and gets stored as fat. 
• Insulin resistance – Over time, high cortisol dulls your body’s response to insulin, forcing your pancreas to produce more. More insulin means more fat storage.
• Fat storage in all the wrong places – Cortisol loves depositing fat in the visceral region – that’s the deep belly fat that wraps around your organs. Unlike pinchable subcutaneous fat, visceral fat churns out inflammatory compounds linked to diabetes, heart disease, and even dementia.

Sugar, stress, and belly fat – the trickiest of triangles  

If stress and belly fat had a third partner in crime, it would be sugar. Here’s how the cycle works: 

1. Stress makes you store more fat from sugar  

When you eat sugar, your brain releases dopamine, that feel-good hormone that makes it feel like there’s a mini party every bite. But with sugar highs come sugar crashes and those leave you tired, cranky, and craving another hit. Meanwhile, cortisol is busy telling your body to store that sugar as fat. 

2. Sugar increases cortisol

Sugar doesn’t just add calories, it keeps stress hormones elevated. A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that high sugar intake prolongs cortisol release for hours after eating.

So, stress makes you crave sugar, and sugar makes your stress worse. Rinse and repeat and you have a vicious belly-bulging cycle.

8 ways to break free from your cortisol belly  

How do you stop stress from hijacking your waistline? Here are eight simple strategies to boot belly bulge:

🏋🏻 Metabolic Gold – This is your powerhouse supplement. It contains bergamot polyphenols, which help regulate cholesterol and vastly improve fat metabolism. Read more about this natural fat fighter.

🍗 Eat protein with every meal – Not only does it stabilise blood sugar, but it keeps cravings in check.

💧 Hydrate yourself – Dehydration spikes stress hormones and intensifies cravings.

🛌 Prioritise sleep – Aim for 7 to 9 hours to keep hunger hormones balanced. For better, deeper sleep try marine magnesium – it’s a powerhouse for good sleep 💤

🧘🏻 Practice mindfulness – Studies show meditation lowers cortisol and reduces emotional eating.

💪🏻 Exercise smarter, not harder – Strength training beats endless cardio when it comes to cortisol control.

☕️ Limit caffeine and alcohol intake – a double-blind study shows caffeine increases cortisol levels throughout the day, regardless of gender or the type of stress

🚶🏻Take mini-breaks throughout the day – Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, so schedule moments to breathe and reset.

How does Metabolic Gold help? 

This natural powerhouse is here for your weight-loss journey, making every step of the way, easier. Here’s how … 

🏊🏻 Improves sugar metabolism by improving sugar processing in the liver and pancreas, helping to reduce insulin resistance. 

🏃🏼 Reduces unhealthy cholesterol levels, and improves the levels of "good" cholesterol. 

⛷️ Improving fat processing and reducing unhealthy fat accumulation.

🚴🏻 Improving fat metabolism and promoting healthy blood sugar levels that contribute to weight management.

Find out more about Metabolic Gold

Let us guide you

Give us a call about managing stress, improving sleep, and choosing the right kind of supplements to reclaim control over your metabolism and banish that belly fat.

Our team of pharmacists are delighted to hear from you. Give us a call at 01483 778 438.  

If I asked you to name the number one source of stress in your life, what would you say? The eternal work-life balance conundrum? Your health? Being and doing all the things for all the people? Or could the answer be closer to home? Take a moment to pause and consider, what if the answer is, in fact, “me”? What if you could explore, with compassionate curiosity, the internal patterns that contribute to stress - while also acknowledging the external forces that shape your experience? 

The Stress Triangle 

Stress isn’t just about having too much on your plate. It’s biological, psychological, and social, three interconnected forces shaping our experience. From a social perspective, the systems of modern life are undeniably relentless. In mid-life, we’re juggling our most senior career roles, still-needy kids, and aging parents.

When we eventually retire, we’re required to step into the role of childcare support for our grandchildren. It’s a lot. At the same time, our experience of life is largely shaped by our perspective and attitude, which are influenced by our biology and psychology. And since both are adaptable, so is our experience.  

Self-Compassion 

Exploring the internal causes of stress isn’t about beating ourselves up, it’s about taking responsibility for our own experience. When we focus only on the social causes of stress, we tend to seek external solutions: time management hacks, retail therapy, holidays.

While these can help in the short term, real transformation comes from how we relate to stress itself, by shifting our response in the body and mind. It’s important to do this with self-compassion rather than self-criticism. As my favourite quote from psychologist Carl Rogers goes, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” 

On the surface, self-compassion, much like the idea of accepting ourselves just as we are, can sound like letting ourselves off the hook. It can seem passive, but in reality, compassion is inherently active. It’s about turning towards our struggles, facing them head on, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Self-compassion reminds us that the biological and psychological causes of stress are not personal failings, but the result of our innate human wiring and life experiences. None of this is our fault, and we have the power to shift our experience. 

The Body 

Stress hijacks our nervous system. Many of us unknowingly spend much of our time in a fight or flight state, making nervous system regulation key for stress management. With all the wellness advice being shoved down our necks, this task can feel overwhelming, but it’s really quite simple - it all comes down to consistently meeting our body’s basic needs.

Good quality sleep, hydration (including mindful caffeine and alcohol intake), nutrition (including supplements), and movement. Reconnecting with our body’s natural cues is also essential. Need the loo? Don’t fire off one more email or empty the dishwasher first, just go. Feeling cold? Put a jumper on. Roasting hot? Take it off. The more we acknowledge and respond to our most basic needs, the safer, and less stressed, our body feels. 

The Mind

The messages we’ve absorbed since childhood about success, productivity, and responsibility shape our relationship to stress, often without us realising it. Gaining deeper insight into our beliefs and how they contribute to stress can be truly transformative.

One way to do this is by observing our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours as clues to our unconscious patterns. Working with a practitioner or journaling can be powerful tools for this exploration. A simple but impactful question to ask ourselves is, "How do I want to feel?", inviting us to design our lives in a way that aligns with those desired feelings. 

Stress is a natural part of life, but it’s not inevitable and shouldn’t be constant. Turning inward with compassion and reflecting on how our internal responses contribute to the stress we experience, is one of the most caring actions we can take for ourselves. The added bonus is that when we take charge of stress in the body and mind, our capacity to manage the external causes of stress also expands. 

Meet our guest writer! Katie Williams

Insomnia, one of the most prevalent sleep disorders, affects millions worldwide, with consequences that extend far beyond nighttime restlessness. Poor sleep quality is increasingly linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression, and impaired cognitive function.

As modern lifestyles continue to evolve, so too does the incidence of insomnia, exacerbated by factors such as increased screen time and heightened stress levels.

We at The Naked Pharmacy make it our mission to empower our customers through knowledge, as we believe it is this knowledge empowerment that enables our customers to make informed decisions about their health.  

In this article, we explore the science of sleep, the different types of insomnia, its potential causes, and how modern living contributes to its rising prevalence.

The Science of Sleep: How Do We Fall Asleep?

Falling asleep is a complex, multi-step biological process controlled by the brain and regulated by two key systems: the circadian rhythm and the sleep-wake homeostat.

• Circadian Rhythm: The body’s internal clock, primarily regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) (located in the hypothalamus of the brain), responds to environmental cues such as light and darkness. As evening falls, the brain signals the pineal gland to release melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep.
• Interesting fact – People who have had damage to their SCN not only struggle with their sleep patterns but also suffer from disrupted patterns of behaviour and body temperature too!
• Sleep-Wake Homeostasis: This mechanism tracks the amount of time we’ve been awake and builds “sleep pressure” over the day. The longer we stay awake, the greater our need for sleep. The neurotransmitter adenosine accumulates in the brain during wakefulness, increasing drowsiness.

Once these systems align and external factors (e.g., a dark and quiet environment) support relaxation, the brain transitions from wakefulness to sleep. This shift involves changes in neurotransmitter activity—GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) promotes sleep by inhibiting wake-promoting neurons, while a decline in orexin (hypocretin) activity ensures we stay asleep.

The Different Types of Insomnia

Insomnia is not a singular condition but a spectrum of sleep disturbances. It is typically classified based on duration, nature, and underlying causes.

Acute Insomnia

• Also called short-term insomnia, this type lasts a few days to weeks and is often triggered by stress, illness, travel, or environmental changes.
• Example: A person experiencing poor sleep after receiving distressing news or recovering from surgery.

Chronic Insomnia

• Defined as difficulty falling or staying asleep for at least three nights per week for three months or more.
• Often linked to underlying medical conditions, psychiatric disorders, or poor sleep hygiene.

Onset vs. Maintenance Insomnia

• Onset Insomnia: Difficulty falling asleep despite feeling tired. Often associated with anxiety, excessive screen exposure before bed, or stimulant intake (e.g., caffeine).
• Maintenance Insomnia: Waking up frequently during the night and struggling to return to sleep. Linked to medical conditions (e.g., chronic pain, menopause) and mental health disorders.

Pregnancy Insomnia

• Common during pregnancy due to hormonal fluctuations, increased urination, physical discomfort, and anxiety about impending childbirth. 
• Sleep disturbances often peak in the third trimester as the body prepares for labour and the growing baby causes discomfort.

Comorbid Insomnia

• Occurs alongside other health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, or neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Behavioural Insomnia (Primarily in Children)

• Seen in young children who struggle to sleep without parental intervention or specific bedtime rituals.

Theories and Causes of Insomnia

The underlying causes of insomnia are diverse, involving biological, psychological, and environmental factors. As with many conditions, there is no “one cause fits all” but understanding potential reasons and theories that exist may help us rationalise or identify the root cause of our own insomnia. 

Hyperarousal Theory

• Insomnia is often linked to an overactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, resulting in elevated cortisol levels that keep the brain in a heightened state of alertness.
• Chronic stress, anxiety, or PTSD can trigger this response, making relaxation difficult.

Neurotransmitter Imbalance

• An imbalance between GABA (sleep-promoting) and glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter) can disrupt sleep onset and maintenance.
• Low serotonin levels, often seen in depression, may also impair melatonin production.

Lifestyle and Environmental Factors

• Screen Time & Blue Light Exposure: Blue light from devices suppresses melatonin production, delaying sleep onset.
• Caffeine & Alcohol: Caffeine is a known adenosine receptor antagonist, reducing sleep pressure, while alcohol can disrupt REM sleep.
• Irregular Sleep Patterns: Shift work, jet lag, and inconsistent sleep schedules interfere with circadian rhythms.

Medical and Psychiatric Conditions

• Chronic pain (e.g., arthritis, fibromyalgia)
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• Menopause (due to declining estrogen levels)
• Neurological disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s, dementia)

These conditions can be the most debilitating as there is no direct route to addressing the root cause of the condition and thus, poor sleep contributes to a vicious cycle in managing such conditions.

Why Insomnia is Getting Worse: The Modern Epidemic

The global prevalence of insomnia is on the rise, with studies estimating that 10-30% of adults experience chronic insomnia, while up to 60% report occasional sleep disturbances. Unfortunately for all its benefits, modern lifestyle is the main culprit contributing to this trend:

1. Increased Screen Time & Digital Overload

• The average person spends 7+ hours per day on screens, with evening exposure to blue light delaying melatonin release.
• A study published in JAMA found that using screens before bed increases sleep latency (time taken to fall asleep) by 30-60 minutes.

2. Higher Stress & Workload

• Sleep deprivation costs the global economy $411 billion annually due to lost productivity and health expenses.
• Chronic stress keeps the brain in a hyper-alert state, leading to difficulty relaxing before bed.

3. Poor Sleep Hygiene & Social Jet Lag

• Late-night eating, excessive caffeine, and irregular sleep schedules disrupt circadian rhythms.
• Social jet lag (staying up late on weekends and waking early on weekdays) can mimic the effects of actual jet lag.

4. Increased Mental Health Disorders

• Anxiety and depression, both closely linked to insomnia, have surged in recent years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Insomnia and depression share a bidirectional relationship—poor sleep worsens mood disorders, and mood disorders impair sleep, again, another example of a negative feedback cycle.

Treatments for Insomnia Managing Insomnia 

Treatments for insomnia require a combination of lifestyle changes, behavioural therapies, and in some cases, medical interventions. Below are the primary treatment options available:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I): A structured, evidence-based approach that helps individuals identify and change negative thoughts and behaviours contributing to sleep disturbances. Considered the gold standard for chronic insomnia. 
• Sleep Hygiene: Establishing consistent sleep schedules, creating a dark and cool sleeping environment, and reducing screen time before bed. 
• Relaxation Techniques: Mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation to reduce stress and promote sleep. 
• Medication: Prescription sleep aids such as benzodiazepines or non-benzodiazepine sedatives (e.g., zolpidem) may be used in severe cases, though they come with risks of dependence and side effects. 
• Melatonin: Useful for sleep-onset insomnia and shift workers but should be used under expert guidance to avoid excessive use. 
• Magnesium for Insomnia: Magnesium plays a crucial role in nervous system regulation and has been shown to enhance GABA activity, promoting relaxation and better sleep quality. 
• Herbal Remedies: Natural sleep aids such as lavender, valerian root, chamomile, and passionflower have been traditionally used to support restful sleep. 
• Light Therapy: Exposure to bright light in the morning can help regulate circadian rhythms, particularly for those with delayed sleep phase disorder.

Conclusion 

Insomnia is not just a night-time nuisance but a condition with profound consequences on health and well-being. Understanding its underlying mechanisms, risk factors, and worsening trends can help individuals make informed lifestyle adjustments.

Addressing insomnia requires a holistic, integrated approach, including improved sleep hygiene, stress management, and in some cases, targeted interventions such as prescribed medications cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT-I) or nutritional support.

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