This article states that around 5% of non-depressed people go on to develop depression when they eat junk food of the baked-goods variety (like croissants, pecans spins and Twinkies) or fast food.
Link between fast food and depression confirmed
The authors assume the link is causal (fast/junk food causes depression), but I don't see why. Many people only eat fast food and carb-rich junk food when they're already depressed and want the temporary solace (and serotonin/insulin hit) of comfort food. It might be smarter to eat more trail mix, olives and avocados when we're depressed, and leave out the Twinkies, but the fact is they cost more.
So, is the fast food/junk food self-medication for depression, contributor to depression, or both? It makes more sense to view it as a sign that something is amiss, rather than leaping to the conclusion that fast/junk food itself is the problem.
When people need to self-medicate, they're going to find a way. And at least fast food is not going to cause as many accidents as alcohol, as much ruin as harder drugs, or as much disease as compulsive sex -- all of which are popular forms of self-medication for depression.
Something to consider... We need not leap right to the blaming mentality. We can treat these changes in habits as useful clues instead.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Repeated stress knocks out the prefrontal cortex
... In a number of ways.
This article describes a new finding which relates memory loss and cognitive dysfunction to a loss of glutamate receptors in the prefrontal cortex (PFC):
body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2012%2F03%2F120307132202.htm&subject=How+repeated+stress+impairs+memory
They state that this is why the PFC tends to falter in the face of repeated stress: the receptors for one of the key neurotransmitters become depopulated, leaving fewer sites to accept the glutamate and allow that part of the brain to do its job.
Cognitive impairment in the face of repeated or chronic stress is not a monolithic problem, though. Memory and decision-making are probably the most complex of brain tasks, and there are plenty of things that go wrong when memory and cognition fail.
Other factors include dopamine depletion, leaving less of that transmitter to carry messages back from the PFC, thereby making executive decisions harder to make and still harder to follow through on. (I wrote a previous post on dopamine and decision making. I'll dig it up and link over.)
And then there's the adrenaline overproduction and overuse that characterizes chronic and repeated stress, leading to disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (the body's entire signaling structure for body processes) which contributes to brain dysfunction in still more ways: by disrupting sleep, which disrupts memory formation and impedes logic; and by contributing to the rise of metabolic syndrome, creating less stable blood sugar -- which, in the brain, adds considerable insult to injury: a hungry brain is a low-functioning brain.
Take your vacations. Simplify your life. Move your body around regularly. Meditate early and often. If you cherish your brain, you might as well let it work -- and that means getting a half-Nelson on stress before it gets one on you.
Links:
The article on overuse of dopamine (on my Living Anyway blog): http://livinganyway.blogspot.com/2011/03/dopamine-poverty-and-pain-lighter-side.html
Another Biowizardry entry on neurotransmitters: http://biowizardry.blogspot.com/2011/08/scared-of-wrong-things-role-of-mao-in.html
This article describes a new finding which relates memory loss and cognitive dysfunction to a loss of glutamate receptors in the prefrontal cortex (PFC):
body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2012%2F03%2F120307132202.htm&subject=How+repeated+stress+impairs+memory
They state that this is why the PFC tends to falter in the face of repeated stress: the receptors for one of the key neurotransmitters become depopulated, leaving fewer sites to accept the glutamate and allow that part of the brain to do its job.
Cognitive impairment in the face of repeated or chronic stress is not a monolithic problem, though. Memory and decision-making are probably the most complex of brain tasks, and there are plenty of things that go wrong when memory and cognition fail.
Other factors include dopamine depletion, leaving less of that transmitter to carry messages back from the PFC, thereby making executive decisions harder to make and still harder to follow through on. (I wrote a previous post on dopamine and decision making. I'll dig it up and link over.)
And then there's the adrenaline overproduction and overuse that characterizes chronic and repeated stress, leading to disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (the body's entire signaling structure for body processes) which contributes to brain dysfunction in still more ways: by disrupting sleep, which disrupts memory formation and impedes logic; and by contributing to the rise of metabolic syndrome, creating less stable blood sugar -- which, in the brain, adds considerable insult to injury: a hungry brain is a low-functioning brain.
Take your vacations. Simplify your life. Move your body around regularly. Meditate early and often. If you cherish your brain, you might as well let it work -- and that means getting a half-Nelson on stress before it gets one on you.
Links:
The article on overuse of dopamine (on my Living Anyway blog): http://livinganyway.blogspot.com/2011/03/dopamine-poverty-and-pain-lighter-side.html
Another Biowizardry entry on neurotransmitters: http://biowizardry.blogspot.com/2011/08/scared-of-wrong-things-role-of-mao-in.html
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