These 7 Lifestyle Factors Reduce Depression Risk By Two-Thirds (M)
People with generally healthy lifestyles had a 57 percent lower depression risk compared to those with generally unfavourable lifestyles.
Category: Depression
An Unusual Sign Of Depression Most People Think Is Unrelated
Most people think this common symptom is unrelated to depression.
Most people think this common symptom is unrelated to depression.
Morning headaches are a common sign of depression and anxiety, research finds.
People naturally assume that morning headaches are related to poor sleep.
While they often are, poor sleep is not the only cause.
The survey of 18,980 people found that the most significant factors linked to chronic morning headaches were anxiety and depression problems.
Dr Maurice M. Ohayon, the study’s author, said:
“Morning headache affects one individual in 13 in the general population.
Chronic morning headaches are a good indicator of major depressive disorders and insomnia disorders.
Contrary to what was previously suggested, however, they are not specific to sleep-related breathing disorder.”
Depression, anxiety and poor sleep were not the only predictors of morning headaches, though.
Dr Ohayon writes that drinking, high blood pressure and various sleep disorders were also linked to morning headaches:
“We also found a positive association between heavy drinking—at least 6 alcoholic drinks per day—and morning headaches, and between the use of an anxiolytic medication and morning headaches.
Subjects using these psychoactive substances were twice as likely to report morning headaches.
Among organic disorders, we found that subjects with hypertension or musculoskeletal diseases had a higher risk of reporting morning headaches.
Changes in blood pressure are likely to cause headaches.
Among sleep disorders, dyssomnia not otherwise specified, which included restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, and sleep disorders with multiple possible causes, had the highest association with morning headaches.”
Related
- Signs of Depression: 10 Common Symptoms You Should Know
The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine (Ohayon et al., 2004).
A Worrying Mental Sign Of Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D may be linked to critical neurotransmitters and inflammatory markers.
Vitamin D may be linked to critical neurotransmitters and inflammatory markers.
Feeling low can be a sign of vitamin D deficiency, research suggests.
Vitamin D may be linked to critical neurotransmitters and inflammatory markers that can cause depression.
Along with low mood, the most important symptoms of depression are:
- Decreased interest in life or pleasure.
- Energy loss.
- Concentration problems.
The conclusions come from a study of 12,600 people whose symptoms of depression and vitamin D levels were examined.
It emerged that people with low vitamin D levels were more likely to be depressed.
The study cannot tell us if low vitamin D is a cause of depression or the result.
The study’s authors explain:
“We found that low vitamin D levels are associated with depressive symptoms, especially in persons with a history of depression.
These findings suggest that primary care patients with a history of depression may be an important target for assessment of vitamin D levels.”
Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.
That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in more Northern climes.
Up to 50% of young women may be deficient in this vitamin, other research has shown.
Professor E. Sherwood Brown, study co-author, said:
“Our findings suggest that screening for vitamin D levels in depressed patients — and perhaps screening for depression in people with low vitamin D levels — might be useful.
But we don’t have enough information yet to recommend going out and taking supplements.”
Vitamin D levels are now routinely tested during physical exams as deficiencies are linked to other health problems, such as obesity, diabetes and general cognitive decline.
The study was published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Hoang et al., 2011).
This Is The Surprising Depression Treatment Most People Get
Around 16 million people in the US are thought to suffer an episode of depression each year.
Around 16 million people in the US are thought to suffer an episode of depression each year.
Most people diagnosed with depression get no treatment at all, research finds.
Only 35.7 percent of people start some kind of treatment for their depression, an analysis of 240,000 US patients has revealed.
Of the third who do start treatment, most (80 percent) take antidepressants rather than choosing psychotherapy.
Even among people with severe depression, only half start on some form of treatment.
Older people were less likely to choose psychotherapy.
They are also less likely to start any kind of treatment than those under 44-years-old.
Dr Beth Waitzfelder, the study’s first author, said:
“Our study, which was much larger than previous studies, provides important new evidence about the current scope of the problem among leading health care systems across the country that are striving to improve depression care in primary care settings.
Screening for depression in primary care is a positive step toward improving detection, treatment and outcome for depression, but disparities persist.
We need a better understanding of the patient and other factors that influence treatment initiation.”
The conclusions come from an analysis of over 240,000 people who received depression diagnoses between 2010 and 2013.
Around 16 million people in the US are thought to suffer an episode of depression each year.
Dr Waitzfelder said:
“Over the last decade, there has been a growing effort to raise awareness about mental health and to integrate mental health care into primary care.
This is a positive development, since most people receive care from primary care providers.
However, our study shows there is a lot more work to do to understand why many depressed patients do not begin treatment.”
The study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (Waitzfelder et al., 2018).
These Amusing Pastimes Make People Happy & Fight Depression (M)
Certain activities give pleasure and fulfil deep psychological need in us: to experience flow, satisfaction with work and creativity.
6 Thinking Biases That Remain After Depression Recovery (M)
Over 50 percent of people who experience major depression will have a relapse at some point.
A Weird Depression Symptom Most People Don’t Know
Why depressed people cannot hold on to positive memories and emotions.
Why depressed people cannot hold on to positive memories and emotions.
Depressed people have 30 percent worse memory on certain tasks, research finds.
Depressed mood stops people from holding information in their memory.
This may be why depressed people can find it hard to hold on to positive memories and emotions.
It can also help to explain how depression develops and persists over time.
In depressed people, memory is easily ‘hijacked’ by depressing thoughts, to the exclusion of all else.
Professor Bart Rypma, who led the study, said:
“People with depression or even healthy people with a depressed mood can be affected by depressive thoughts.
We have known that negative thoughts tend to last longer for those with depression.
However, this study is unique in showing that, these thoughts, triggered from stimuli in the environment, can persist to the point that they hinder a depressed person’s ability to keep their train of thought.”
In the study, 75 people read sentences that sometimes had depressive features.
The results showed that people who were depressed did 30 percent worse in a memory test when reminded of a depressing thought first.
Dr Nick Hubbard, the study’s first author, said:
“We all have a fixed amount of information we can hold in memory at one time.
The fact that depressive thoughts do not seem to go away once they enter memory certainly explains why depressed individuals have difficulty concentrating or remembering things in their daily lives.
This preoccupation of memory by depressive thoughts might also explain why more positive thoughts are often absent in depression; there simply is not enough space for them.”
Professor Rypma said:
“Interventions such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy are quite successful in empowering depressed people to recognize and better regulate the content of their thoughts.
Our goal is to continue to study how such therapeutic approaches can alter the depressed brain and how these alterations might result in better memory and outcomes for persons with depression.”
The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (Hubbard et al., 2016).
The Shocking Effect Of ‘Hidden’ Sibling Bullying On Adult Depression (M)
Around half of children were bullied by a sibling, sometimes with serious consequences, a study finds.
The Depression Symptom Most Mistakenly Believe Is Purely Physical (M)
“I am no better in mind than in body; both alike are sick and I suffer double hurt.” — Ovid
How Social Media Use Affects Depression & Anxiety Symptoms In Children (M)
Many people assume that social media is partly to blame for worsening mental health among young people — but is it really?
