Stress can cause cellulite

Stress can cause cellulite - Seminar host Dr. Delia Simu
It's not uncommon to hear that many people connect cellulite with excess bodyweight.
This is not necessarily true. In fact, you don't have to be heavy to have cellulite. While diet and lifestyle factors can contribute to cellulite formation, a large portion of cellulite is comprised of toxins and fats that build up in the body, affecting women of any size, weight and body structure.
According to the American Skincare and Cellulite Expert Association over 90% of women over the age of 20 have cellulite1. Women are the primary victims of cellulite because they secrete higher levels of estrogen than men. Estrogen drives fat into the fat cells below the skin, which in turn sets off a chain of events that produces cellulite.
"In order to understand how stress contributes to cellulite we must first understand what happens to us when we are stressed," says women's health expert Dr. Delia Simu. "When we are stressed the hormone Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands in response to physical, psychological or environmental stress. This newly secreted cortisol causes an elevation of estrogen in the body. As mentioned earlier, these higher levels of circulating estrogen drive fat into the fat cells within the subcutaneous layer of the skin, setting off a reaction that creates the undesirable 'orange peel' texture of the skin, in the affected areas."
A report by Statistics Canada in 2004 suggested that women are more likely than men to report stress and they react to a wider range of stressors. "Not only are women more stressed but this is causative to the development of cellulite," says Simu. "Especially when you consider that women naturally have more cellulite then men because a women's fat layer is organized differently. Most men store smaller amounts of fat deep under the skin where as women store an abundance of fat in the uppermost layer of the skin. Men can get cellulite, but it is not as common as in women. If they do have cellulite, it is usually found in the belly region."
source-citizen.on.ca