From ‘Glee’ to Now: Amber Riley on Releasing Stress Through the Power of Music

variety.com:

Bruna Nessif For Amber Riley, music is more than just her job — it’s her therapy. The singer and actor is sharing her experiences with stress in support of the American Heart Association’s initiative to raise awareness about the impact that stress can have on physical and mental health. “It’s important that people understand that your mental health can affect your physical.

Mental health can also affect your heart too,” she shares in a video interview with Variety. “My stress really started to manifest itself habitually with insomnia – not sleeping, overthinking, not getting enough rest.

When I was younger, it definitely manifested itself with eating, which I didn’t know. I didn’t understand why I was getting up at two in the morning, sneaking downstairs to get chips.

It was just comfort-eating and not really being conscious of it.” The actor shares that her relationship with chronic stress “definitely had its ebbs and flows,” but it wasn’t until her body was sounding the alarms that she took notice: “I get sluggish, a little bit slow and even heart palpitations or heart beating fast or feeling like that fight or flight kind of kicks in sometimes.