By Michael J. Critelli | MakeUsWell Newsletter,
We’ve spent years telling people what to eat when they’re stressed. The emerging science suggests we’ve been asking the wrong question.
The real issue isn’t stress alone. It’s unpredictable stress and most of it is designed into modern work.
Why Unpredictability Matters More Than Pressure
Human beings can tolerate intense effort remarkably well when stress is bounded and predictable. Deadlines, big goals, even sustained hard work don’t automatically derail health.
What does far more damage is volatility:
- Constant interruptions
- Surprise escalations
- Shifting priorities
- A sense that anything can become urgent at any moment
Neuroscience and metabolic research increasingly show that unpredictable stress produces sharper and longer-lasting cortisol spikes, disrupting insulin sensitivity and intensifying cravings for fast carbohydrates and fats.
This explains a paradox many leaders quietly observe:
High performers who know how to eat well still struggle with late-day cravings, fatigue, and weight gain.
It’s a system design problem.
Decision Density Is a Metabolic Issue
The brain runs on glucose.
On decision-heavy days, cognitive demand alone can deplete that fuel long before dinner.
Studies using continuous glucose monitoring show that dense, interruption-filled workdays are associated with late-day glucose crashes, even in people without diabetes. When that happens, the body doesn’t negotiate. It demands fast energy.
From a leadership perspective, this reframes the issue entirely:
When organizations overload people with constant decisions, they are quietly pre-deciding their employees’ dinners.
Stress Changes When We Eat, Not Just What
Chronic unpredictability shifts eating later into the day, compresses meals, and pushes calories into periods when cortisol is still elevated.
Same calories.
Worse metabolic outcomes.
Where AI Enters the Picture, For Better or Worse
AI is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful stress multipliers or stress reducers inside organizations.
Used poorly, AI:
- Increases surveillance and perceived scrutiny
- Accelerates work without reducing workload
- Creates constant alerts, dashboards, and micro-interruptions
- Amplifies urgency without clarity
The result? More volatility, more cognitive load, and worse downstream nutrition and health.
Used well, AI does the opposite:
- Reduces low-value decisions
- Smooths workflows and demand spikes
- Anticipates problems before they become emergencies
- Protects focus time instead of fragmenting it
In other words, AI can remove unpredictability from work, which may be one of the most powerful nutrition and health interventions leaders have available.
The Leadership Lever Hiding in Plain Sight
The highest-ROI nutrition strategy for organizations may not be food programs, wellness apps, or cafeterias.
It may be:
- Fewer false emergencies
- Clear escalation rules
- Better capacity planning
- AI deployed to absorb volatility, not amplify it
Leaders already run a health system.
It just doesn’t look like one.
Call to Action
If you’re a CEO, board member, or senior leader, here’s a different question to ask this week:
Where are we designing unnecessary unpredictability into work, and how could AI help remove it instead of intensifying it?
the workday has already done much of the eating.
The Flip Side of Leadership Responsibility
As individuals, families and teams, we can improve our individual and collective abilities to reduce stress and improve our health by recognizing the frequency of unhealthy unpredictability others introduce into our lives, whether they be work supervisors, Board members, shareholders, business partners, family members, or others to whom we believe we have obligations.
We can help ourselves by focusing on eliminating the sources of unpredictability and can help others spot those sources as well. In so doing, we are improving both our own health and the health of others in subtle, but powerful, ways.