Depression and Heart Disease Linked To Lack of Exercise
As the New York Times reports:
For years cardiologists and mental health experts have known that depression raises risk for heart attack by 50 percent or more.
It hasn't been clear before, though, why this is the case.
The study, which tracked the lifestyle and health habits of 1,017 participants with heart disease, found that depressed people were likely to have more severe heart problems. However, when they looked at the amount of exercise done, they found that "patients who didn't exercise, whether or not they were depressed, had a 44 percent higher risk of heart problems, after controlling for a variety of factors including medication adherence, smoking and other illnesses."
The researchers believed that the only reason that depressed people seemed at greater risk was because they were much less likely to be taking exercise than the people not suffering from depression.
In the paper Depressive Symptoms, Health Behaviors, and Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease the researchers concluded that:
In this sample of outpatients with coronary heart disease, the association between depressive symptoms and adverse cardiovascular events was largely explained by behavioral factors, particularly physical inactivity.
Exercise is also known to help alleviate the symptoms of depression, so if you are at risk of heart disease, or suffering from depression, increasing your levels of physical activity will definitely benefit you.
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ReplyThat always looked to be the case, but only awaited to be brought out as systemic study.i am doing Exercise from several months and am doing good without anti depress pills
Thank you
Look, I'm a great fan of exercise and think that many many things can be helped by living an active lifestyle. I think it makes almost all our biological systems work better. But.....
I'm intrigued by the comment that: the only reason that depressed people seemed at greater risk was because they were much less likely to be taking exercise than the people not suffering from depression.
If you look at the work done at Georgetown University by Dr. Candace Pert with neuropeptides, and asked her about exercise being the ONLY reason, she'd be able to give all sorts of biochemical reasons that the emotion of sadness in itself contributes in very real ways to these heart attacks.
Another thought I had was that genuinely depressed people often neglect levels of self-care - like let's say something very ordinary like brushing their teeth. I never realized until recently that tooth decay causes heart attacks.(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/162165/tooth_decay_and_gum_disease_has_now.html)
ReplyDepressed people also feel unappreciated - and didn't we recently have an article on Diet Blog about that causing heart attacks too?
This doesn't surprise me at all! I feel up and energetic when I get regular exercise, and I feel low and sluggish and even a little sad when I don't. The human body was designed to move and to burn calories, so it makes perfect sense to me that not exercising would lead to all kinds of problems, physical and mental.
ReplyI agree with comment above. When I get regular exercise I feel much better. My wife complains that when I miss my workout I get too grumpy. She makes me get my workout in. I love it!
ReplyThis seems to be a sensible conclusion. As others have said about themselves, there definitely seems to be a correlation between me exercising, and feeling better.
ReplyThis makes sense to me too. Clinical depression runs in my family and I had a lot of the symptoms myself. When I started exercising, I was able to go off of prescription antidepressants and I felt MUCH better. Even now, when I skip a workout I feel lethargic and mopey the rest of the day. I think it has to be related to the neurotransmitters involved. Exercise simulates the effect produced by the antidepressants, but it's natural, so there aren't any weird side effects.
ReplyDitto.
When I do my 3-mile morning run, I have MORE energy throughout the day. Plus, I feel a hell of a lot better. I like walking into work and knowing that I've already done a 5K.
ReplyGreat information. I take medication for depression and anxiety. I know the more exercise I get the better I feel all around. Thanks for the info.
ReplyThis is definitely true. I spent 2 years fighting a very hard battle with depression, but all that stopped when I began taking vigorous exercise 6 days a week. It cures many ills.
ReplyExercise has been shown to chemically make you happier. This goes beyond "oh wow i'm happy I exercised" exercise actually releases chemicals from your brain that make you happy.
ReplyGreat information and i will use all the wise words in my next sessions.
ReplyI know someone who is almost 80 and has suffered depression on and off all her life and she's completely heart attack free, defying all the odds!
ReplyA bit of daily exercise is now detrimental to your heart health! This is a great connection. Also, people that get a little bit of sunshine a day are less depressed statistically. So now when you go get some sun and a little exercise, you can do great things for your body and heart. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyIsn’t it natural for us to believe we are healthy and not suffering from any disease? I had a similar thought process until my physician asked me to get a heart scan done after he found that my basic cardiograms were not perfect. I discovered that there were calcium deposits in my coronary arteries and I was at a serious risk of a heart attack. It was only because of not having a regular exercise. It was then when I realized the importance of the exercise. And depression is really a feeling that no one would ever like to face. And its impact on my life seemed to come in this way. I was shocked and went ahead with the Cardiologist's suggestion of an advanced diagnostic scan. Though it’s always tough to undergo such experiences, I was not at any kind of discomfort at the Elitehealth.com advanced heart scan facility. I am not an expert in medical appliance and machines but could feel that the equipment was world-class and I was in safe hands. That feeling is really very important for me and that’s how it actually went on. The facilities for Full Body Scan were as good as they can get.
Reply