Depressed Because You’re Fat

And fat because you’re depressed! – It turns out that if you’re depressed because you’re fat (no surprise there), you’re likely to get even FATTER, especially in the place you dread being fat the most: our stomach. But there ARE some surprises to be found out there. For instance, if you’re worried about your memory, a fat tummy HELPS that!

Sociologist Sociology Belinda Needham says, “We found that in a sample of young adults during a 15-year period, those who started out reporting high levels of depression gained weight at a faster rate than others in the study, but starting out overweight did not lead to changes in depression.

“We found that everyone, as a whole, gained weight during the 15-year period of time that we examined. However, the people who started out reporting high levels of depression increased in abdominal obesity at a faster rate than those who reported fewer symptoms of depression at year five.”

This may be because the stress hormone cortisol has been linked to both depression and abdominal obesity. “So, there is reason to suspect that people who are depressed would have higher levels of abdominal obesity versus other parts of the body because of elevated cortisol,” Needham says. “Our study is important because if you are interested in controlling obesity, and ultimately eliminating the risk of obesity-related diseases, then it makes sense to treat people’s depression. It’s another reason to take depression seriously and not to think about it just in terms of mental health, but to also think about the physical consequences of mental health problems.”Even though being obese seems to make women’s memories worse, for some reason, this is NOT true if you carry that weight on your hips. Researchers have found that “apple-shaped” women scored better than “pears” on memory tests, BUT “apple shapes” have other problems, such as a high risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Here at unknowncountry.com, we think that truth is much more amazing than fiction. Please help us keep doing what we do so well and subscribe today. And if you’ve got anything left in your pocket at the end of the month, we’ll appreciate it if you click on the “donate” tab on our homepage too–and thanks!

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Art credit: Dreamstime.com

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