Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco studied 59 women between the ages of 30 and 46. Body weight ranged from lean to obese and half of the women had a high level of abdominal body fat and the other half had a lower amount. The researchers collected saliva samples in order to measure cortisol levels and the participants were subjected to some type of psychological stress over the course of three sessions. However, researchers also noted that lean women with more abdominal fat were more vulnerable. They experienced high levels of cortisol when faced with the same stressor for the second and third time.
Stress is one thing that people can take control of to improve their health.
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