The short answer is yes, though not in every person. Some people lose their appetite and lose weight when they're stressed. But if you already tend to be overweight, stress usually leads to weight gain. It also can make it harder to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

The relationship between stress and weight is complex. Maintaining a healthy weight depends upon many lifestyle factors: Your activity level, the rhythm of your meals, whether or not you have breakfast, the kind of food you eat, and how you are at monitoring your own diet.

How likely are you to respond to negative emotions and stress by eating? It's hard to know. But in a large British study, researchers found that people with the lowest body mass index (BMI) tended to lose weight when stressed, while people with the highest BMI usually gained weight.

How does stress cause these changes? Before we can answer that question, we have to learn a lot more about how the brain controls appetite. Scientists are beginning to discover some intriguing connections. For example, a hormone that is thought to be involved in regulating body weight also interacts with receptors in parts of the brain that control emotion.

Since food is essential for survival — and for most of human history food was relatively scarce — the brain has evolved to protect us against times of scarcity. Sadly, the brain does a poorer job of protecting us against abundance! In fact, it may actively undermine many of us. Some experts say that chronic stress leads to a preference for foods that are high in sugar and fat.

Whether or not stress is causing weight gain in your life, the solution is lifestyle change: Increase your activity level. Reduce your intake, while making healthier food choices. Get the amount of sleep you need.

But these kinds of changes are very difficult to make without the right support — especially when you're stressed. So if the burdens in your life have become too great, get a referral from your doctor to talk to a mental health professional. Taking care of your mental health may be the best thing you can do for your body.