Mental health and healthy weight

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At the end of June, our clinic will be offering a medically supervised weight loss program. You may be wondering; why is mental health clinic offering such a program? Unfortunately, obesity and mental health difficulties sometimes go hand in hand.

A meta-analysis of various studies published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2010 (JAMA of Psychiatry), discusses the link between obesity and depression. If you wondering what a meta-analysis is, simply put, authors of the paper combine a whole bunch of studies into one group, analyze the outcomes from each study and then compile them together into one article. That way, we have a better understanding of a certain topic because it takes into account several different studies. In aforementioned article, authors found that obese patients have a 58% increased risk of developing depression. Now, why would that be? One theory is that obesity, being an inflammatory state, can cause depression because inflammation alone been associated with development of this mental illness. In addition, depression involves hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation and this is known to be involved in development of depression, as well. HPA... What? I swear I did not make up these words myself. This axis is basically a network in our bodies responsible for a stress response.
Furthermore, obesity involves an increased risk of diabetes type 2, which could induce altercations in the brain and increase risk of depression, as well. Also, it goes without saying, that perception of being overweight can induce body dissatisfaction or decreased self-esteem, both of which are known risk factors of depressive symptoms.

In turn, depression can also contribute to development of obesity by long-term activation of HPA axis and contribution to unhealthy lifestyle, including unhealthy nutrition and lack of exercise.

If you have been feeling dissatisfied with your current weight and are ready to make changes, you won't only be doing your body a favor, but your soul, too. Having a healthy and happy mind is just as important as having a healthy body!
Location: 2705 E 17th St, Ammon, ID 83406, USA

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