Exercise is a natural way for people to boost their moods and relieve stress. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 14-million Americans suffer from depression. If you are one of them, adding exercise to your daily routine may be a good way to supplement your regular treatment, gain restful sleep and improve your mood.
Nearly 13 percent of women experience depression during and after pregnancy, according to WomensHealth.gov. Some women have the baby blues, while others develop more serious postpartum depression. While most cases of the baby b...
It is essential for energy metabolism and for the regulation and health of the immune, nervous and endocrine systems. If people become deficient in niacin either due to a poor diet or a medical condition, they can develop a pot...
Depression is a mental disorder characterized by sadness, lack of motivation, sleep changes, appetite disturbance, difficulty with normal functioning and sometimes suicidal thoughts. When depressive symptoms occur on their own,...
HCG is produced naturally in the placenta and plays a role in maintaining the production of other hormones. Whether it's used for fertility or weight loss, HCG can have some psychological side effects.
As the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, GABA has been studied for its effects and potential benefits in the prevention and treatment of depression and other cognitive and emotional disorders.
Seventeenth century poet William Congreve alluded to its powers when he penned the much-quoted line "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast." Doctors are increasingly interested in the ability of music -- particularly singi...
While many factors can cause humans to feel sad for variable periods of time, true depression is a psychiatric symptom that has clear chemical origins. Research on depression and in the field of neuropsychology has revealed tha...
The book "In Search of Memory" describes nerve cells or neurons that represent the basic signaling components in the brain. A synapse is the space between two nerve cells. Chemicals called neurotransmitters leave one nerve cell...
According to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Late Life Depression Evaluation and Treatment Center, depression is best defined by overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, sadness, bouts of crying and anger. The harmful...
Depression is highly treatable with therapy and medication, but unfortunately many depressed people never seek for help. This leads to a chronic depression that can have a profound effect on a person's health. Depressed person ...
With all of these symptoms, depression can cause problems in a person's life that will last long after the depression has been treated.
Depression coincides with a smaller hippocampus, a brain center crucial for memory and learning, says Washington University psychiatry professor Yvette Sheline. Sheline and colleagues scanned the brains of 48 women with a histo...
The effects of depression on the elderly and its inter-relationship with chronic diseases are some of the contributors to mortality when depression is part of a person’s life.
Depression, whether mild or severe, can have profound effects on other family members. While everyone feels sad sometimes, depression is a serious condition that can affect every aspect of a person’s life and the lives of...
The nervous system uses many types of molecules, called neurotransmitters, to send signals back and forth throughout the body. Most drugs that are depressants exert their effects by increasing the activity of a neurotransmitter...
They include alcohol and prescription drugs such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines. The Partnership for a Drug-Free American points out that marijuana and certain inhalants such as nitrous oxide are depressants as well. Depre...
The World Health Organization, or WHO, reports that depression affected some 121 million people worldwide in 2004, making it the fourth leading contributor to the global burden of disease. By the year 2020, the Centers for Dise...
Depression affects the way people feel, think and act. It often turns their lives upside-down, causing severe problems at home, at work, in school and with friendships or relationships. Some people may experience sadness for a ...
The National Institute of Mental Health writes that depression is more than the occasional feeling of sadness, lasting a couple of days. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the A...
According to the National Comorbidity Study, more than 16 percent of Americans experience depression at some point. It remains a costly but treatable condition that's ignored far too often. Most people associate depression wit...
Surgeon General estimates 5.3 percent of adolescents meet the criteria for a major depressive disorder. Between 10 percent and 15 percent of teens will have symptoms of a major depressive episode at some time before age 21. The...
The family is a system. When a family member has depression, it can cause a disruption to this system, while it can significantly impact other family members and the family unit as a whole. Depression is an illness that can div...
Maternal depression is a condition that causes women to experience negative symptoms. According to the Canadian Pediatric Society, women of childbearing age are at greater risk for depression than their older or younger counter...
For the individual with depression, sadness, fatigue and apathy can become overwhelming or even disabling. However, the effects of depression can also be felt by friends, family, significant others, co-workers and even neighbor...
If left untreated, depression and its symptoms may lead to a variety of social and mental complications. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), depression and related illnesses can affect about 1 in ...
Depression is a mental disorder that affects the mind and the body. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), the symptoms of depression that affect the body include changes in sleep, f...
Depression is a mental illness characterized by feelings of sadness and hopelessness. However, its effects are not restricted to the mind. In fact, the nagging toll of depression on the body often is physically evident. Dark c...
Because depression does not have one concrete cause, different types of treatment are used to improve symptoms. One treatment is light therapy, or phototherapy, which uses a "device that contains white fluorescent light tubes c...
Depression during the teenage years is not uncommon. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics states that in 2007, 8 percent of 12-to-17-year olds had a major depressive episode. Depression causes the patien...
This disorder can also result in neurological changes, like problems with concentration, sleeping and mood while the patient is in a depressive phase. The neurological effects in depression can be rectified through treatment, s...
The Mayo Clinic states that "depression is one of the most common health conditions in the world." Depression is a serious mood disorder that affects both emotions and behaviors, and can alter the patient's quality of life. Wit...
If only some minor impairment occurs and only a few basic symptoms are present, the episode is described as mild according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The effects of mild depression can be seen across a suffe...
According to the Mayo Clinic, depression typically starts in a person's early 20s, but it can develop at any age. There are certain negative effects of depression that necessitate immediate medical help.
Serotonin and norepinephrine are two neurotransmitters that are involved in mood, and are thought to be connected to depression. The Mayo Clinic notes that it is hypothesized that a deficit in either neurotransmitter can cause ...
Depression can cause a series of physical events leading to other diseases, both acute and chronic. Depression is often unrecognized or under-treated, and it is important to recognize that it can have a negative effect on the b...
Further, in 2005 the journal "Cognitive Neuropsychiatry" published research findings that summarized the effects of depression on the mental processes involved in memory including attention, sensory processing, awareness and su...
Depression affects 5 to 8 percent of the American population each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Major depression, different from regular bouts of sadness, causes ongoing challenges regarding health...
Depression is a serious mood disorder that has a significant impact on the sufferer's health and well-being. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that approximately 121 million people worldwide have depression; the organi...
Although these problems are thought of frequently in conjunction with depression, sleep-related disturbances during waking hours have also been shown to be part of the effects depression has on sleep. Regardless of the type, on...
Depression is a feeling of despair that saps joy and energy from life. Depression is linked to chemical and physical changes in the brain that impact mood and cognitive ability. Depression may also be linked to traumatic events...
Depression is characterized by feelings of sadness, irritability and hopelessness, fatigue, sleep issues, weight gain and loss, and difficulty concentrating. These symptoms usually have detrimental effects on a person's life. S...
Depression doesn't impact only the people who suffer from it. The impact also reaches all the family members of people diagnosed with the disorder. It's important not to overlook the importance that support systems play in copi...
Depression is a serious mental health disorder that affects every member of a person's family, especially the person's spouse. Marriages take energy, patience and dedication when both partners are healthy, but when one is strug...
When a family member suffers from depression, it's difficult for the entire family. It's recommended that the family participate in family therapy to deal with the effects that depression has on each family member. Male depress...
