Stress can lead to overeating, which is often a cryptic correlation where stress causes increased calorie intake rather than cortisol directly causing fat gain.

“presumably in the population of people who try and um self soothe with eating excess calories when they're stressed that the correlation just becomes to them obvious but it's like cryptic correlation as we call it right because two things are happening. They're stressed and they're eating more and yes their cortisol is probably elevated. So it all hangs together rationally but the food part is never really discussed.”