By Elena Khan
Sophomore Eric Lee waits in line at Tpumps for the fourth time that week. With his upcoming chemistry midterm looming, he orders his usual vanilla milk tea with caramel and honey boba.
“Having some sort of food or drink is a way to relieve stress or pressure,” Lee said.
Illustration by Hannah Lee
Lee often falls asleep on his desk due to lack of sleep, causing him to rely on milk tea to help him stay awake. He views it as comfort food and a way to cope with negative emotions that build up throughout the day. He also sees it as an outlet for his struggle of sleeping and balancing his school life. Lee’s habits are an example of stress-related eating.
Lee is not the only one who struggles with stress-related eating. According to the American Psychological Association, 26 percent of teens have eaten unhealthy foods or overeaten because of stress and more than half of these teens participate in such behaviors weekly.
“I don’t even realize when I’m stress eating until I feel uneasy because most of the time I’m too focused on what’s stressing me,” sophomore Anokhi Shah said.
Shah juggles playing a school sport and maintaining her GPA, causing her to binge on junk food, varying from Oreos to potato chips. She puts school before most of her everyday priorities, making it hard for her to manage her eating routines.
Illustration by Hannah Lee
“I try to control myself and relieve any tension by taking deep breaths,” Shah said. “I play water polo, which lets me take out my anger and worries so when I’m studying, I don’t feel as tense.”
According to Harvard Health, once junk food is consumed, it almost instantly relievesstress, yet with over-consumption, obesity and weight gain can become a problem. To combat this, senior Nitya Kondapalli believes that paying attention more to the food put into people’s mouth is key to stopping major weight gain.
“I know I gained a lot of weight because I wasn’t looking at what I was eating but instead it was just blindly going into my mouth,” Kondapalli said. “I didn’t really put much thought into it.”
Kondapalli believes that people should make sure to move around, even when working to help lessen the effects of stress eating. Some people like Shah try to find alternate activities to participate in so the urge to stress eat decreases. However, Lee chooses to maintain his lifestyle due to him not viewing stress-eating as severe.
“I’m trying to find healthier options, but it’s not too big of a problem,” Lee said. “I don’t have time to find other options.”
With the upcoming tests and assignments, stress eating can become tempting, but checking the amount of calories and fat are in each food carefully before consuming can help. According to WebMD, incorporating more vegetables and fruits into everyday meals can be a healthy option. Simply walking around a room can be a form of exercise, which can also boast mental health.
Illustration by Hannah Lee
“I feel like when we aren’t in proper condition to take care of ourselves, sometimes things tend to get out of hand,” Kondapalli said.
Kondapalli views stress-eating as eating without thinking. She believes that being in a good state of mind can help prioritize necessities like eating healthily over stress. Lee also views stress-eating as something that only further damages a person’s body and does not do anything beneficial physically but rather psychological for people.
“It doesn’t actually change anything, but in a way it still makes you feel better,” said Lee. “It feels almost calming and relaxing.”
Graphic by Elena Khan