I have put my big mouth to the test and have made a public challenge to lose 100 pounds. I know, what was I thinking? No more cakes and pies. No more "good stuff" that makes me feel so bad. Ugh. Another one of those things in life that a person has to give up, even if they enjoy it.
In order to try and keep myself motivated, I thought I would look at the reasons I decided to to this. I have worked most of my life in the mental health field. I have seen thousands of people suffer from depression. Since I have been a nurse since 1986, I have seen thousands and thousands of people who suffered from obesity. I see this one guy every single day. He looks back at me from the mirror. Do not tell him, but I noticed he has a bit of a growing bald spot too.
Are depression and obesity related? For this, I went to the medical literature data base called "Pubmed". I am not an affiliate and I do not get a penny from them, but this is my "go to" site for information. The search alone for "obesity depression" landed 3458 references. That tells me there MIGHT be an association of the two.
A study is cited from the Finnish Research Center for Sport and Health Science. The abstract looks at the presence of low grade inflammation and depression as it pertains to ABDOMINAL FAT. Seriously, are there two more horrible words than "ABDOMINAL FAT"? Call me any name you want, just do not call me "Abdominal Fat". The study supports that the two evil doers (inflammation and depression) put a guy at more risk to develop "AF". I cannot help but digress a bit more down the road as it reminds me of the movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", when Steve Martin hears "cleaning woman"...
Abdominal fat leads to even more medical problems as it has been linked to increased incidence of diabetes and cardiac disease. But, the good news is found in Pubmed. The following is from an abstract found in the American Journal of Psychiatry September 2011 edition (hey, see, I bring you the BEST information)
"The association of depressive symptoms with subsequent inflammation levels was eliminated after adjustment for health behaviors associated with depression-physical inactivity, smoking, and higher body mass index."
So, in other words, if a body gets physically fit, then depression will have the possibility to improve. Depression affects the lives of so many on so many levels. Anything that helps battle depression makes a difference. Now, I changed my search criteria just a bit. I did a search for "childhood obesity". Sadly, it registered 7921 hits. We often hear about the impact now and the future impact of childhood obesity. Considering what we covered in this blog, realize that depression will have a great foothold on our future as a country.
I know it is election time and we are forced to listen to all of the politicians spout off the thought of the day. We can take control of healthcare by taking it on one person at a time and go after obesity with a vengeance. I will help you. I am not one of those skinny people who preach about the evils of obesity. I live with the disease daily and am fighting it pretty hard these day.
I hope this educates one person.
John
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