Not only that heart disease can be depressing, but depression also affects the health of heart. About 50% of hospitalized heart patients are found to have some depressive symptoms, with up to 20% developing major depression. But, do you know patients who are depressed at the time of hospitalization for heart conditions are two to five times more likely than average to die or to suffer further cardiovascular events? Yes, they do, especially from diseases such as heart attack, stroke, or severe chest pain in the following year. Recurrence of cardiovascular events is more closely linked to depression than to high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, or diabetes, according to the February issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.
Smoking
TagMore Smoking May Lead to Depression
The likelihood of suffering major depression seems to be increased among smokers — especially those who smoke heavily. Study findings suggest this. Followed a population-based group of adults for 11 years, researchers in Norway found that those who smoked were more likely than non-smokers to become depressed! The risk too climbed in tandem with the number of cigarettes smokers puffed each day. Smokers who burned through more than 20 cigarettes a day, to define in a word as heavy smokers were four times more likely than people who’d never smoked to develop depression.
Depressed kids smoke during adulthood: Study
According to a Finnish study, depressed kids are more likely to become smokers in adult age. The Finnish study is first of its kind to establish a link between childhood depression and adult smoking. The study was presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, in Toronto. The researchers now want to identify childhood conditions that force child to develop this damaging behavior. Further, the researchers have concluded that boys with extra-emotional behavior at age eight are ten percent less prone to smoke. Earlier a Duke University study had published a report last year on the cause of smoking habits. It found that children, who suffer attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, were more probable to smoke as young adults.
Childhood depression may lead to smoking habit
Childhood depression may lead you to develop smoking habits in future. According to Dr. Solja Niemela of the University of Turku in Finland, one of the researchers, childhood depression may lead to the twenty per cent increased risk of being a habitual smoker. It may also lead to forty per cent increased risk of becoming a heavy tobacco user by the age of 18. The researchers has affirmed following the study that childhood hyperactivity and conduct problems are the two factors which are well known linked with adult smoking. However, this study is among the first to disclose link between childhood depressive symptoms and subsequent smoking.
Smoking as self-medication for depression?
Smoking and depression can be linked to each other. An individual prefer smoking to get relief from depression and quitting it, become impossible as its adaptability by the brain for a long period of time. According to a new research, cigarette smoke has some anti-depressant properties as it contains thousands of chemicals besides nicotine, affecting the mood of person as same as done by anti-depressant medication also called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Smoking is thus, done by depressed individuals to self-medicate themselves. A new medication called Bupropion (Zyban) -one of the safe as well as an effective anti-depressant for smoking, helps in reducing withdrawal symptoms, maintaining ideal weight and refreshing the mood of the patients.
Non-smokers please note…nicotine may help curb Depression!
A study found that nicotine may help to curb depression. But this does not mean that people should go for smoking or start using nicotine patches to curtail depression. The study reported that people who are non-smoker found to experience depression as compared to the smokers. The report is not meant to encourage people for smoking as it is one of the significant factors contributing to a lager number of deaths. This information may prove beneficial to the researchers to further development of new treatments . Moreover, pharmaceutical companies are also working to manufacture a drug resembling the properties of nicotine by evading its addictive nature. So, depressed need to wait till the drug or the treatment comes to the market. Further, avoid smoking as it is not a health builder rather a health destructor.
Smoking ignites depression!
People with persistent smoking habit are at an increased risk of depression than those who never smoked. This fact sprang out from a study conducted by Finish researchers, in which they analyzed a database of 4000 males and 5,000 female twins whose health and health behavior were tracked for almost 15 years. Conclusion, which loomed out of this study, unveils that persistent chronic cigarette smoking predicts depressive symptoms, however, link between smoking and depression was found more significant among males than females. However, what turns smoking effect more significant for males than females is not very clear to the researchers, as they are also finding it a tough question to answer. Perhaps this is the reason why Dr. Tellervo Korhonen of the University of Helsinki remarks about this finding: The mechanisms underlying the association between smoking and depression are very complicated. On the basis of these findings, one thing could certainly be said that smoking habit stirs up depression because some studies conducted earlier have also linked smoking to depression. In addition, this fact can also not be spurned away that smoking has been linked to various other health complications too, therefore, the more we stay away from smoking the better it would be. Image credit: Mental Help Via: UPI