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Comment by phs318u | Hacker News Reader

If "stress" = "worrying about (something that may happen in) the future", then mightn't 'over eating' be a primitive physiological response? e.g. similar to how 'threat of imminent attack' -> 'fight or flight', perhaps 'threat of something bad in future' -> 'better pack on the kilojoules now in case we can't secure an adequate food supply'.

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>e.g. similar to how 'threat of imminent attack' -> 'fight or flight', perhaps 'threat of something bad in future' -> 'better pack on the kilojoules now in case we can't secure an adequate food supply'.

In that case it would the same response would also apply to skinny people, but the article says that this isn't the case. Also it says it's more common for women (to turn to food for stress), whereas men turn to alcohol and smoking and such, which would also not be explained by an primitive innate response.

IMO more likely to be emergent behaviour. Stressed people generally have issues prioritising difficult long-term goals over tasks that yield short-term gratification.

so true. Stress leads to burn out state which has to be one of the biggest productivity issues. The body and mind go into this odd state where they are looking for instant small boosts to feel good. Food is an obvious feel-good with many obvious 'next stage' boosts that people opt to get 'rewards' from. You could write the same article about alcohol, excessive gaming or excessive social media consumption. Personally, keeping an eye on the level of burn out is one of the most important lessons so far.

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