do you find yourself racing to the kitchen every now and then when youre feeling low or upset according to a study people who eat emotionally reach for food several times a week or more to suppress and soothe negative feelings they may even feel guilt or shame after eating this way leading to a cycle of excess eating and associated issues like weight gain another group of scientists including one of indian origin said emotional events can make us binge on icecreams and sweets while stress eating or emotional eating isnt a new phenomenon is it more common amid the pandemicour moods can affect our eating habitsemotional binge eating is a practice of overeating in order to soothe yourself emotional eating is a coping mechanism from negative emotions mainly when you tend to overeat to suppress emotions like stress anger fear anxiety sadness loneliness etc and most often you find comfort in high calorie low nutrient unhealthy food like a bag of chips or a tub of icecream leading to weight gain and many other health issues aayushi lakhapati cofounder upnourish it is a known fact that emotions trigger mindfulness and the choices we make people who are in a good mood are known to eat better and healthier this is because when a person is happy they consume food keeping in mind its longterm benefits on their health they are mindful of what they consume this unique relationship between food and mood is both biological and psychological says kanchan rai mental and emotional wellbeing coach emotional eating amid the pandemicglobally many studies have reported the negative effects of isolation and lockdown on emotional wellbeing and relatedly on eating behaviour especially during the pandemic losing loved ones unemployment work from home reduced physical activity lockdowns etc have led to increased stress anxiety boredom and loneliness negative emotions lead to a feeling of emptiness and void and many look at food as a way to fill that void also because of boredom and finding it challenging to cook food many people have been reaching out for unhealthy packaged food for convenience and once you start eating unhealthy junk food repeatedly your brain keeps asking for more and it soon becomes an addiction explains lakhapatiemotional hunger vs true hungerwhile physical hunger is natural gradual and subjected to the timing of your last meal emotional hunger is sudden and triggered by a combination of emotions such as stress anxiety sadness worry or fatigue it is important to indicate that sometimes cravings too may just be an emotional hunger in disguise says dr siddhant bhargava fitness and nutritional scientistfact checkresearch suggests that when you are depressed or stressed you tend to find comfort in food food especially high in sugar sodium and fat because such foods are known to activate dopamine happy hormone levels in the body bringing you a certain level of joy and comfort on the contrary when youre happy you make healthier nutritious food choicesexpert speakemotional eaters crave junk food