Beware! Depression Can Leads To Weight Gain

Does a blue mood lead to a bigger belly? People who feel anxious or depressed are more likely to pack on pounds than happy folks, finds a study in the International Journal of Obesity.

And weight gain isn’t limited to a clinical diagnosis: In the study, participants who simply showed symptoms like feeling tense, unsettled, or despondent gained weight and were more likely to become obese over an 11-year period.

Why? When you’re in a funk, your motivation gets hit the hardest. “Depression is like constantly being pressed down, so being motivated to do almost anything is out of the question,” says Rob Dobrenski, Ph.D., author of Crazy: Notes on and off the couch. So, while not everyone with mood disorders gains weight, physical activity requires more motivation than you have — and comfort food can provide temporary relief.

If you think you have depression or anxiety, tell your doctor. But in the meantime, fake it ’til you feel it. “People with depression often say ‘When I feel better, I’ll do it.’ But it’s the opposite —you have to act happy to feel happy,” says Dobrensky.

Spend the day playing the role of someone who isn’t depressed — seriously. Emulating someone without a mood disorder isn’t a cure-all, Dobrensky says, but it can help break through the feelings of being stuck.

Lift your mood

Remember the good ol’ days. Thinking back to specific times in your life could help ease depressive symptoms, says a new study in Clinical Psychological Science.

Don’t read us wrong: Beating depression isn’t that easy. Gather 10 of your buddies together and, statistically, one of them is suffering from depression. And since the condition is linked to health problems galore in men — anxiety, erectile dysfunction, and coronary heart disease, to name a few — if you’re down in the dumps, you’d be wise to get checked.

But the fear of being medicated is the number one worry people with depressive symptoms have, and it’s a big reason why they keep their issues to themselves, says a 2011 study in the Annals of Family Medicine.

The good news: Beyond seeing your doctor for medical treatment, small things that make you happy — like reminiscing on an awesome road trip you took with the guys, or that killer concert you saw last year — can make a big difference in helping you feel better, too.

Here are four more to try.

Listen to your feet

Heading out on a run? Focus on the nitty-gritty details, like the sound of your feet hitting the pavement, the number of stop signs you pass, and the faces of the people you breeze by. That technique is called mindful engagement, and it’s been scientifically proven to alleviate depression, says Michael Addis, Ph.D., author of the book Invisible Men: Men’s Inner Lives and the Consequences of Silence.

“If you enjoy exercise, don’t do it while ruminating or worrying about whatever is troubling you — that only reinforces your negative mood,” he says.

Show random act of kindness

If you’re depressed, you’re missing positive emotion in your life. The good news? Adding it back in could be as easy as making someone else happy. In a recent study that asked people to engage in three good things a day — helping with groceries, picking up coffee for a friend, or paying a compliment — 94 percent of participants showed decreases in depressive symptoms. Why? Random acts of kindness evoke positive thoughts, and are an easy solution to quash negative feelings, researchers say.

No angry birds before bed

You’ve heard it before: Play with your iPad for an hour before bed or leave the TV on, and your sleep suffers. But did you know that artificial light can also sink your spirits? A study in Molecular Psychology found that when hamsters were exposed to a dim light at night — similar to the glow of a TV screen — instead of a standard light/dark cycle, they showed signs of depression after just a month. What gives? Your brain can’t produce melatonin — the sleep hormone — if it detects light. Thus, the rodents exposed to light at night had less complex neurons in brain areas that control mood.

Flash a half-smile

“I’m not talking about a big fake crap-eating grin,” Addis says. “Just simply raise the corners of your mouth ever so slightly on a regular basis,” he advises. How come? Your brain is wired to receive feedback from your body that indicates how you’re feeling.

Studies have shown that people who form their mouths into a slight smile report elevations in their mood — even when they don’t realise they’re doing it. In contrast, people who were instructed to try to make their eyebrows touch — making a frown — reported a worse mood, Addis says.

Vitamin D to the rescue

Could the sunshine vitamin cure the blues? Perhaps: Short-term mega-doses of vitamin D may reduce symptoms of depression, according to Sonal Pathak, M.D., an endocrinologist in Dover, Delaware, USA, who recently presented the findings of her small case study at The Endocrine Society’s Annual Meeting in Houston.

A handful of previous studies have found a link between low vitamin D levels and depression.

How might D defeat depression? “The vitamin is prevalent in areas of the brain associated with behaviour and emotion, such as the amygdala and hippocampus; so when levels are low, they can’t function like they’re supposed to,” she says.

“Vitamin D is also involved in the release of certain neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and epinephrine — the same ones many antidepressants are designed to target.”

Source: menshealth.com