Could Facebook Be Making You Fat?

Although it may seem counterintuitive, a recent study has suggested that this could very well be the case. A study conducted by two professors from Monash University in Australia assessed the prevalence of anxiety in subjects who were subjected to various use of social networking sites. The study (albeit done on subjects previously diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder) showed that as use became more frequent, there was less anxiety towards online social situations, but consequently more anxiety in regards to real life social situations. So in other words, as their number of online friends grew, their number of real life friends ironically shrank. With this in mind, it could be inferred that someone who frequently uses facebook could experience increased levels of social anxiety (assuming they have to face people on a regular basis). And with an increase in anxiety comes the possibility of weight gain, since stress releases the hormone cortisol, which causes glucose to be released into your bloodstream, giving you a burst of energy followed by a spike in appetite. This increase in appetite, when combined with other psychological factors that prompt people to eat when they are anxious, makes a perfect recipe for weight gain (no pun intended). In this case, the simplest solution would obviously be to spend less time on facebook, but in case this is simply not an option for you, you might want to try some exercises that reduce anxiety. For example, autogenic training has been proven to reduce symptoms of anxiety as well as lowering blood pressure and heart rate in those that practice it regularly. Developed by German psychiatrist Johannes Schultz in the 1930s, all autogenic training requires you to do is set 15 min aside (preferably 15 min from your facebook time), and focus on each part of your body feeling warm and heavy (this is of course an oversimplification, but an exact list of exercises could be found on sites like this one). The point of these exercises is to increase communication, and consequently, balance, between the sympathetic and parasympathetic parts of your autonomic nervous system. If done routinely enough, you should start being able to handle anxious thoughts that surface throughout the day better, leading to less symptoms of anxiety and thus a lower stomach fat percentage.