Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

RainaElf t1_ixxxgt2 wrote

Reply to comment by True_Garen in Obesity Is Now the Top Modifiable Dementia Risk Factor in the US (July 2022) by True_Garen

since when is depression modifiable? or do they mean people on medication?

22

OPengiun t1_ixy2l7i wrote

Probably refers to untreated depression, in the same way it is referring to untreated hearing loss.

So... active therapy, CBT, medicine, etc

26

RainaElf t1_ixz9t2v wrote

it's just ambiguous the way it's written

7

OPengiun t1_iy0mgad wrote

Yeah, and a bit demoralizing for the folk that have depression, I'd imagine.

5

RainaElf t1_iy0tmzv wrote

which is why I asked. I've had chronic depression since high school. about forty years if not longer.

3

ChungusChess t1_ixxxoy8 wrote

You just need someone to say "cheer up" or "you should try smiling". I've never been happier.

18

RainaElf t1_ixxzuyg wrote

is that like "just stop being poor"?

14

subzero112001 t1_ixyno70 wrote

Well, if you stopped being poor then you wouldn’t have poor people problems. Sounds pretty logical to me.

9

wdcpdq t1_ixyzpf8 wrote

Being poor makes treating hearing loss, depression, low education, etc a challenge.

3

kthulhu666 t1_ixxyx0f wrote

Have medical "professionals" tell you, "It's all in your head." Problem solved.

3

RainaElf t1_ixxzvkl wrote

is that like "just stop being poor"?

−1

uninstallIE t1_ixy2t3c wrote

Most depression is/can be alleviated through therapy that is coaching you to making lifestyle changes. Some people get on drugs, but this isn't necessary for a lot of cases depression

12

JazzlikeZucchini2855 t1_ixz3nba wrote

I’d venture to say that a lot of depression could be alleviated by society not being the way it is.

18

Spreadwarnotlove t1_ixzox7a wrote

Yeah. Society is too kind. People need life and death struggles to feel alive.

1

hiricinee t1_ixz25so wrote

It depends on your definition of modifiable. There's plenty of people who are obese that would insist its not modifiable, and plenty of people who changed their behavior and were able to fix their depression or at least reduce it.

Tbh, if there is literature that exists suggesting you can correct something with changes in behavior, it's at least I'm part modifiable, and that literature DOES exist regarding depression.

8

InTheEndEntropyWins t1_ixyc47l wrote

Good diet, exercise and sleep have as much if not more impact on depression than medication. Your brain needs good diet, exercise and sleep to function properly, it's no surprise that you will have brain disfunction like depression or dementia if you aren't doing all three.

>The diet may have a significant effect on preventing and treating depression for the individual. A diet that protects and promotes depression should consist of vegetables, fruits, fibre, fish, whole grains, legumes and less added sugar, and processed foods. In the public health nurse’s preventative and health-promoting work, support and assistance with changing people’s dietary habits may be effective in promoting depression. From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7084175/
>
>Current evidence supports the finding that omega-3 PUFAs with EPA ≥ 60% at a dosage of ≤1 g/d would have beneficial effects on depression Https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-019-0515-5

​

>People with insomnia , for example, may have a tenfold higher risk of developing depression From https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/depression-and-sleep-understanding-the-connection

Studies show that exercise is just as effective as medicine.

>Four trials (n = 300) compared exercise with pharmacological treatment and found no significant difference (SMD -0.11, -0.34, 0.12). From https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24026850/

5

Hypernova1912 t1_iy0977h wrote

Diet and particularly exercise are effective, but keep in mind that when you're depressed it can be very hard to find the energy or motivation to cook, eat healthy meals, or exercise. Medication is useful even if it just gets you far enough to be able to do those.

Sleep is way more complicated. Insomnia predicts depression, yes, but they're also pathophysiologically linked in ways we don't quite understand. It's a symptom of depression as well as a cause. Sleep architecture changes are known, there are circadian factors, full-night sleep deprivation has a very powerful antidepressant effect until you sleep again, the list goes on. (Don't have any citations at the moment, sorry.) Of course not sleeping won't help matters, but treating depression like pure insomnia doesn't work very well.

4

InTheEndEntropyWins t1_iy0ciwt wrote

There are probably all sorts of feedback loops between sleep, diet, exercise.

Depression is likely to cause poor sleep, which can then cause poor diet and people not feeling like exercising, etc.

It's important to try and concentrate on breaking some of these loops. The vast majority of people do almost everything wrong when it comes to their circadian rhythm, so by fixing all that can help improve things.

5

bcatrek t1_ixy600w wrote

They might mean untreated depression (I didn’t read the article).

4