Stress less, eat less - Shape Your Life News

Learning to relax tense muscles may help people with night-eating syndrome--and possibly anyone else who eats too much in response to stress. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston taught progressive muscle-relaxation therapy (a method in which you tense and then relax muscles, moving down the body from head to toes) to a group with night-eating syndrome, asking them to practice the technique for 20 minutes a day. After a week, the subjects had lower stress-hormone levels. "They also showed changes in their eating patterns in a more normal direction," says researcher Patrick O'Neil, Ph.D., director of the university's Weight Management Center.

RELATED ARTICLE: shape wants to know ...

What's your favorite way to unwind?

* "If it's been a tough day, I have to do something physical, like go for a walk or run."--Angel Simon, 34, Altoona, lowa

* "Writing in my journal is my favorite way to end my day, whether I make to-do lists, recall an event or simply write free-form."--Mary Werntz, 28, Akron, Ohio

* "After a busy day, I like to relax with a bubble bath."--Mikaela Rossman, 25, Columbia, Md.

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