Polina Melnikhova, Year 12
The way your body reacts to stress is completely unpredictable, especially when it comes to food. Everyone is different and there is no one response. However, often enough your body tends to require more energy so you’re more prone to eat when stressed. Some binge eat, others overdose on unhealthy foods or do the opposite and live off of salads for a week. Yet it is undeniable that in one way or another stress affects your eating patterns and with exams fast approaching, we decided to ask the LGB community what they snack on when stressed.
The question for this week’s poll was: favourite exam stress-related food to eat while regretting your work ethic for the entire year?
- Brownies
- Chocolate rice cake from the caf
- Illicit substances
- Literally anything
As you can perhaps imagine, the majority of those who voted (48%) picked option “C”. Although the term “illicit substances” is quiet vague, we can almost all assume that it implies alcohol or drugs (gasp!) Seriously though, don’t do drugs! When you’re sitting in that exam hall, trying to remember a math formula and you can’t, it’ll be too late to regret having smoked weed a week before exams. Even though for anyone above the age of 16, it is legal to drink in Switzerland, I would still advice against it especially now that exams are only three weeks away. I’m almost certain that a wine glass here and there won’t hurt, but still if you can try to avoid substances that will have a negative effect on your overall wellbeing.
No one voted for option “B” so I’m assuming the chocolate rice cakes from the cafeteria aren’t very good? Although, to be honest I’m not entirely sure what they are…
Option “A” received 28% of votes and I wholeheartedly agree. Brownies are delicious and they are one of my favourite foods to eat as way to relieve stress.
Finally, the last option, “literally anything” received 24% of votes. Although stress can lead to binge eating, be careful what and how much you consume, especially if it’s unhealthy snacks. A few cookies here and there won’t harm your body but make sure you’re not eating five packets of Oreos a day…
In conclusion, stress can lead to strange eating patterns but make sure it doesn’t destabilise your body leading to under or overeating. As stated above, the most popular option was “C” – illicit substances. Hopefully though, stress will not push students to turn to these when being overwhelmed with work.
