In the meantime, stress-management techniques can play a major role in helping you to lose weight and keep it off. I described several of these in one of my earlier columns. Even a minute a day can make a meaningful difference.

Awareness is the first step in healing. Part of the value of research is to raise our level of awareness about how much these simple choices in our lives can make in our health and well-being. When we exercise, it feels like we're really out there doing something, whereas spending a few minutes with your eyes closed in meditation may feel a little, well, wimpy. Studies like these demonstrate how powerful these stress-management techniques can be and why they work so effectively.

As the researchers of neuropeptide Y concluded, "Our findings provide evidence that stress is not 'just in the mind' but rather affects body weight and metabolism by activating neurogenic angiogenesis and fat remodeling."

© 2007