Stop being depressed … there are still more to do….

Stop being depressed … there are still more to do….

Depression is a mental sickness that is distinguished by pessimistic down beat thoughts and behaviors.  Now days, depression is epidemic worldwide. As per the data of World Health Organization (WHO) that depression results 4 out of 10 leading causes of disability universally. According to them, between 2020, major depression will lead the bunch of mental illness which is the prime cause of disability among women and children worldwide. Mental illness can damage one’s ability to carry out daily actions and to communicate with others. Depression can become so stifling that it disrupts a person's quality of life  and poor work performance which results in commit suicide.

According to a report published in ‘live mint’ in February 24, 2017 by WHO, that globally 322 million people are living with depression and almost half of them reside in South East Asian and Western Pacific region, reflecting relatively large populations of India and China. The entire anticipated number of people living with depression increased by 18.4% between 2005 and 2015.

 As per WHO figures, the total cases of depressive disorders in 2015 in India were 5,66,75,969 which was 4.5% of population in 2015 while total cases of anxiety disorders were 3,84,250,93 which was 3% of the population in the same year period. The document noted that in 2015, an estimated 7,88,000 people died due to suicide while many more than this number attempted but did not die. It said suicide accounted for close to 1.5% of all deaths worldwide, bringing it into the top 20 leading causes of death in 2015.

Environmental factors such as stress, cigarette smoking, and food change the structure of genes. These epigenetic modifications activate and deactivate genes in ways that help or harm your health. Habit of taking proper food is one indispensable way to manage human epigenetic profile. Since your food habit affects your mood, you should aim for foods that enhance your strength. Some foods promote health and others bolster disease. To avoid the latter, you should keep distance from foods that make you feel depressed:

·         Intense alcohol consumption is allied with anxiety and panic attacks;

·         Having too much of coffee increase the risk for anxiety, depression, and poor sleep. Trim down the consumption for coffee, tea, and hot cocoa. Too much caffeine over enthuse your central nervous system and can result in a racing heart, anxiety and sweating. Split the addiction by cutting down by one cup per day and choose tea or green tea which provide a much slighter caffeine strike.

·         Consumption of processed food, refined sugars give momentary high-energy jolt. Eating sweets raises blood sugar level, increases fat storage, and promotes a crash-and-burn feeling. Maintaining a steady blood sugar level is important to achieve even-keeled energy levels.

·         The risk of depression rose gradually as more fast food was consumed. A study state that the connection between diet and mental health may even begin before birth, demonstrating a link between a mother’s consumption of junk food during pregnancy and mental health issues in her child. Deduction of carbohydrates from diet and skipping breakfast can throw anyone into a fury. An attempt to consume too low carbohydrates diet results frequent mood swings.

Remedies for a positive mind and healthy body

Making small, stable changes in food habit is important for good health positive mood:

·         Stable blood sugar levels help to stabilize mood and prevent cravings. Eating regular healthy meals and snacks also boosts the metabolism, ensuring that energy is used effectively.

·         The ideal food habit is to eat breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch, late afternoon snack, dinner and late night snack. Though it is not possible for us all the time, but don forget breakfast

·         Eat beetroot, lentils, almonds, spinach, liver (folate); liver, chicken, fish balance your mood and prevent depression.

·         Carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals are needed to help uptake of serotonin in the brain. So eat healthy (whole food) carbohydrates together with the protein foods.

·         Ideas for snacks include a handful of nuts and raisins, peanut butter on whole meal bread, or fruit with seeds or yoghurt.

·         Any kind of crash diet should be prohibited.

·         Along with increased exercise, the healthy eating patterns could help with weight regulation as well as depression.

·     Followup  with  doctor about if any medication affect your appetite or food choices. Some anti-depressants react with certain foods, some increase appetite and some reduce it. Be extra vigilant about all the above strategies when on medication.

 Its common warning sign for depression is changes in desire for food and weight. In some cases there might be increased appetite for inappropriate foods results weight put on. Anyway, these habits tend to exaggerate depression. Some particular foods also directly affect brain chemicals and eating patterns affect blood sugar levels, both of which play a vital role  in change in mood . This builds up the vicious cycle of improper food habit and mood swing, contributing to the depression habit spiral. In other way self denial and obsessive dieting → low mood, depression, worry etc → binge/comfort eating → guilt, upset, self hate → self denial/obsessive dieting… and so on.

To eat in a way to being healthier, eat epigenetic food that endorse wellness, improve sleep, and lift up frame of mind. Use the process for challenging depressed thinking to make sure such habits aren’t causative to depression-inducing eating habits.  While these good-mood foods are indispensable for health and mind, there’s still more that we can do. 

NOTE-: Photos are collected from internet*****