Heena Sharma Blog

Here's another reason to add physical exercise to your daily routine. According to a recent study, exercising may help fight depression by stimulating muscle-generated mood boosters. According to research, the underlying mechanisms that make us feel good when we exercise, persist into old age and highlight the importance of staying active. "A previous study demonstrated these mechanisms in healthy young adults, however, it was unknown whether the muscle deterioration which accompanies aging would preclude older adults from achieving similar exercise-induced benefits. This could have important implications concerning the use of exercise as a treatment or a preventative strategy for depression in seniors," said David Allison, lead author on the study which was published in the American Journal of Physiology. Muscle loss is a common problem in the elderly, which may restrict that pathway, and therefore increases the risk of mental depression, says Allison. Fo

While many might agree that ice-cream binge can sooth your soul during a rough phase in your life, a recent study suggests that weight loss, nutrient boosting and fat reduction diets can reduce the symptoms of depression. In a new study published in Psychosomatic Medicine, a team of researchers brought together all existing data from clinical trials of diets for mental health conditions. The research provides convincing evidence that dietary improvement significantly reduces symptoms of depression, even in people without diagnosed depressive disorders . "The overall evidence for the effects of diet on mood and mental well-being had up to now yet to be assessed. But our recent meta-analysis has done just that; showing that adopting a healthier diet can boost peoples' mood. However, it has no clear effects on anxiety," said Joseph Firth, lead researcher of the study. The study found that all types of dietary improvement appeared to have equal effects

A recent study has found a link between age-related hearing loss and depression . The findings suggest the greater the hearing loss in elderly individuals, the greater the risk of having depressive symptoms . Thus, the treatment of age-related hearing loss could be one way to head off late-life depression. The study was published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. "Most people over age 70 have at least mild hearing loss, yet relatively few are diagnosed, much less treated, for this condition," said lead author Justin S. Golub. "Hearing loss is easy to diagnose and treat, and treatment may be even more important if it can help ease or prevent depression." Age-related hearing loss is the third-most common chronic condition in older adults. The condition is known to raise the risk of other conditions, such as cognitive impairment and dementia. Read More Business Standard

The risk of developing depression and anxiety is higher among adults with cerebral palsy as compared to their peers without the condition, according to a study. The findings have appeared in the journal JAMA Neurology. A team of researchers led by Dr Kimberley Smith from the University of Surrey and Dr Jennifer Ryan from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland investigated the mental health of those with cerebral palsy and compared it with peers of a similar age, sex, and socioeconomic status, who were not sufferers. Intellectual difficulties, which can affect many with the condition, were also examined to determine if they have an impact on the development of depression and anxiety. Researchers examined up to 28 years of UK primary care data of 1,700 adults aged 18 or older with cerebral palsy, and 5,115 adults who did not have the condition. Researchers found that the risk of depression was 28 per cent higher and the risk of anxiety was 40 per cent higher

Post-natal depression in fathers is linked to emotional problems for their teenage daughters, a study has found. Almost one in 20 new fathers suffered depression in the weeks after their child was born, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The study, based on a sample of over 3,000 families in Bristol, UK, also identified a link between post-natal depression in men and depression in their daughters as they reached adulthood . At 18, girls whose fathers had experienced depression after their birth were themselves at greater risk of the condition, said Professor Paul Ramchandani from the University of Cambridge in the UK. The "small but significant" increased risk applied only to daughters; sons were not affected, said Ramchandani. One reason for this "handing on" effect could be that post-natal depression in fathers is sometimes linked with an increased level of maternal depression, researchers said. Read More

Language people use in their Facebook posts can predict a future diagnosis of depression as accurately as the tools clinicians use in medical settings to screen for the disease, suggests new research. "Social media data contain markers akin to the genome," said one of the researchers Johannes Eichstaedt from University of Pennsylvania in the US. "With surprisingly similar methods to those used in genomics, we can comb social media data to find these markers. Depression appears to be something quite detectable in this way," Eichstaedt said. For the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers identified data from nearly 1,200 people consenting to share Facebook statuses and electronic medical-record information. They then analysed the statuses using Machine Learning techniques to distinguish those with a formal depression diagnosis. Analysing social media data shared by the particip