Stress triggers desire to indulge in rewards

But the researchers also found that stressed people would not enjoy the reward more than anyone who is not stressed and has the same treat just for pleasure. "Most of



us have experienced stress that increases our craving for rewarding experiences, such as eating a tasty bar of chocolate, and it can make us invest considerable effort in obtaining the object of our desire," lead author Eva Pool, a doctoral student at University of Geneva, said.

"But while stress increases our desire to indulge in rewards, it does not necessarily increase the enjoyment we experience," Pool said. In an experiment, researchers found that stress prompted chocolate lovers to exert three times as much effort to smell chocolate than unstressed chocolate lovers.