People tend to use unhealthy comfort foods to help themselves cope with stress, confirms a new survey published in Genius Beauty.
Chef & Brewer, a chain of traditional pub-style restaurants in the U.K., conducted a survey on 3,000 employees. One-third of those surveyed admitted that they would sometimes use food as a stress reliever. Others said that they relied on snacks to get them through a tiring or stressful day.
Of those surveyed, 80 percent revealed that they were more likely to consume unhealthy foods, such as junk food, fast food or candy, when they were under stress. Thirty-three percent said that they were comfortable eating more when the weather was cold, and about a quarter of them would use food as a way to calm down after arguing with a partner.
According to the survey, the average person spends about one hour and 40 minutes per day thinking about food.