An ABC News article about the link between aggression and stress supports this fact and says: Scientists have found biological evidence that stress and aggression feed off of each other, contributing to a “cycle of violence” that can be tragic. When we are under stress, we are more likely to fly off the handle, and when we fly off the handle, that increases our level of stress.

An article in Nutritionsciencenews.com entitled Stress: The Hidden Factor For Weight Gain by James B. LaValle, R.Ph., C.C.N. says:

Stress is woven into the fabric of our lives. The stress response was hardwired so we could fight or flee in threatening situations. Today, traffic, falling stock prices, and any number of everyday situations trigger the stress response. Chronic stress, like a tear in the fabric of our homeostasis, can cause health risks.

Hormones and other physiological agents that mediate the stress response have short-term protective and adaptive effects and yet can accelerate pathophysiology when they are over-produced. One such downstream biological effect of chronic stress is weight gain. A number of nutrients and herbs have been identified that regulate and enhance the body’s ability to handle stress and its manifestations.
 

Stress can affect virtually any part of the body and produce physical, mental and emotional symptoms including allergies, dizziness, headache, heart palpitations, environmental sensitivity, impaired coordination, impaired immunity and weight gain. Weight gain is often associated with emotional eating and the too-busy-to-exercise lifestyles of people under chronic stress. But researchers are finding that changes in the body triggered by stress, such as elevated cortisol levels, can cause insulin resistance and weight gain.
 

Under stress, the body excretes corticotrophin-releasing hormone and adrenalin. This reaction stimulates the release of cortisol from the adrenal cortex. In turn, cortisol, a glucocorticoid, stimulates glucose release into the bloodstream, which, during periods of chronic stress, creates an excessive release of insulin. Insulin, which is part of the endocrine system, is a fat-storage hormone that overrides the stress signal from adrenalin to burn fat. The excess release of insulin gives the body the message to store fat in the abdomen.