Everyday Help for Anxiety and Depression
Everyday Help
for Anxiety and Depression
By Darra McMullen,
Women’s Health Network
Writer/Researcher
Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental
health disorders in the United States, especially among women. Each condition is worthy of its own article
and will get one in the upcoming few weeks, but first, let’s begin our
investigation of anxiety and depression by taking a look at some of the recent
news pertaining to these two conditions.
Then, in January, we’ll dive deeper into each condition with more
in-depth information.
Recent News about
Anxiety and Depression:
• There really are good reasons for adult
coloring books; they are not just a fad.
Among other benefits, coloring produces relaxing alpha brain waves,
which can cut stress in half in 10 minutes, thereby relieving feelings of
anxiety. The repetitive motion and fine
motor control needed to color are thought to produce the calming alpha brain
waves, according to British researchers.
• People prone to worrying and anxiety over
worst-case scenarios should take notice of this next piece of good news. A new study published in the journal, Cognition and Emotion, shows that the
vast majority of people are much more capable of handling failure than they
imagine themselves to be. Study subjects
were asked to predict how well they would respond to badly failing a test and
were then given an exam that was secretly set up for everyone to fail. Even people who predicted they would suffer
greatly from failing an exam faired much better emotionally than their
predictions had indicated. Because
failure is often much scarier in our imaginations than in reality, people, even
emotionally fragile ones, are quite a bit more capable of handling set-backs
than they believe themselves to be.
• Green tea, long known for its many health
benefits, is now documented to assist with the fight against depression. Researchers at the Tohoku University in
Sendai, Japan found that people who consumed two to three cups of green tea
daily were about 40% less likely to report feeling depressed than those who
drank one cup or less daily. The
antioxidants in green tea are thought to reduce levels of cortisol, a stress
hormone in the body associated with depression.
Freshly brewed green tea has superior levels of antioxidants than
bottled green tea; however, any green tea is better than none for providing
increased antioxidants in the diet. The
Japanese green tea study was featured in The
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
• An interesting finding about pro-biotic
foods, such as yogurt, was published by an Irish researcher. Ted Dinan, MD, PhD, and a professor of
psychiatry, concluded in a meta-analysis that pro-biotic foods helped relieve
depression, chronic fatigue, and other mood disorders. “Good” bacteria in the gut are thought to
help produce serotonin and other beneficial chemicals in the brain.
Researchers
are still studying how much of various pro-biotic foods will be needed to
provide an “effective dose” for mood disorder relief.
• Exercise has been shown by several studies to
be “nature’s antidepressant”, relieving symptoms of depression by as much, or
more than, medication for mild to moderate depression cases. Even sufferers of severe depression can gain
some benefit from exercise; regular exercise can enable some patients with
severe symptoms to reduce the amount of medication they take.
One
Norwegian study that tracked 39,000 people for two years concluded that
participants who reported doing moderate-to-high levels of activity for more
than 30 minutes on a daily (or near daily) basis scored significantly lower on
tests of anxiety and depression than did non-exercisers.
• Recently conducted research from Japan found
that manicures stimulate acupressure points in the fingertips and nail beds
that soothe the amygdala, the brain’s anxiety center; manicures can help induce
calm for up to eight hours. Even when
times are especially busy or rushed, try giving yourself a fingertip and nail
bed massage to reduce feelings of anxiousness or nervousness. According to the Japanese research, levels of
anxiety can be cut by 25% or more following fingertip massage.
• Think of saffron when looking for a natural
helper to fight depression. Saffron is a
spice derived from a small, blue crocus, and saffron has been used for
centuries in traditional medicine as a potent antidepressant. Saffron’s “active ingredient” is crocetin,
which appears to enhance blood flow to the brain.
The country
of Iran has conducted research on saffron and found that 30 mg. per day of
saffron powder (about one-tenth of a teaspoon) relieved mild-to-moderate
depression symptoms as effectively as standard doses of certain antidepressant
medications. This is intriguing, early
research that bears further investigation.
Talk to your doctor if you are interested in treating depression with
saffron and never stop taking currently prescribed depression medication
without a physician’s advice.
• Older women, please take note. A coffee habit may be helping you more than
you know. Researchers at the Harvard
School of Public Health in Boston examined health and lifestyle data on 50,739
women (average age 63) for more than 10 years.
The study found that women who drank two to three cups of coffee per day
were 15% less likely to develop clinical depression than those women who drank
one or fewer cups daily. Decaffeinated
coffee had no effect on depression, either positively or negatively. Caffeine is known to increase production of
dopamine and other brain neurotransmitters that help regulate moods, and
therefore, caffeine is theorized to be the active ingredient in coffee
responsible for the protective benefits.
• Research conducted at the Institute of
Psychology, Health and Society at Liverpool in the United Kingdom found that
ruminating about traumatic life events were a leading cause of anxiety and
depression. However, people surveyed in
the study that reported dealing with their trauma in a constructive manner,
such as by talking with loved ones about the trauma, were less likely to
experience anxiety and depression.
• A study from the Ohio State University Wexner
Medical Center points to a link between the color of night-light bulb emission
and depression symptoms. Animals exposed
to dim white or blue light at night were twice as likely to exhibit depressive
symptoms as animals exposed to red or no light at all.
Study
authors urge humans to use night-lights and clocks that emit dim red lights and
avoid blue/green or white lights for two to three hours prior to bedtime.
• Don’t forget the importance of an “attitude
of gratitude” and of the benefits of helping others. Both scientific study and anecdotal
experience have shown us that thoughts of gratitude for the positive things in
our lives and altruistic behaviors can brighten our moods and calm anxious
nerves.
Gratitude
and service to others are remarkable in their abilities to improve the mental
states of the anxious or depressively afflicted, as well as to the improvement
of the greater community.
• Finally, remember the compelling effects
color in our environments can have on our moods. Certain colors have been shown in studies to
help calm nervous emotions or to lighten dark moods.
Blues and
pinks help to calm nervous or worried feelings, while greens, yellows, and
oranges are considered uplifting colors that brighten low, depressive moods.
Hopefully,
these news “briefs” will present readers with some constructive, everyday
options for assisting themselves or loved ones in the fight against anxiety or
depression disorders.
Please join
us here shortly after the beginning of the upcoming year (second week of
January) for a more detailed look at anxiety and depression.
Happy New
Year!
