Hormonal
Obesity and weight gain drive regional sympathetic nervous system activation, which initiates and worsens cardiometabolic risk factors including hypertension, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia.
If you are overweight, your body's stress response (sympathetic nervous system) is likely overactive, contributing to high blood pressure and insulin resistance. This is a biological response to excess fat, not just a lack of willpower. Addressing the underlying metabolic drivers (like insulin resistance) is key to reducing this sympathetic overdrive.
The obesity-induced activation of the sympathetic nervous system likely contributes to the initiation and worsening of cardiometabolic risk factors, including elevated blood pressure, cardiac dysfunction, dyslipidaemia, increased fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Why this rating
Based on a narrative review of multiple preclinical and clinical studies, including direct nerve recordings.
Source
The Influence of the Sympathetic Nervous System on Cardiometabolic Health in Response to Weight Gain or Weight Loss
Gavin Lambert et al. · Metabolites · 2025
DOI 10.3390/metabo15050286
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