Is the budget battle adding to the bulge?

Commenting on my column about "Want to be the biggest fed loser?" a reader wrote that everyone is quick to attribute being overweight to not being active enough or not eating the right foods. But no one addresses the enormous amount of STRESS that federal workers encounter on the job and how that affects weight. "Especially like now wondering/worrying about when the "CR" is going to end, whether there is going to be a "RIF" at my agency in order to pay the bills, how much more will my agency's budget be cut in order to cover the cost of the IRAQ war," the reader wrote.
Those are serious issues and they made me wonder, is the stress of budget cuts greater today than in the past? That's not the kind of stress a walk around the block can easily relieve.