Last week BBC Radio 5 Live said that "a diet that's good for your physical health is also good for your mental health".
This begins to explain the relationship between a good diet and improved mental health. We all know that what we eat fuels the physical body but we may not always consider that what we eat affects how we think and feel.
Research of young children at school in the UK has suggested that improved diets leads to improved academic achievement. CASA in the USA also has published evidence that children who eat regular family meals are less likely to commit crime and have better school results.
In a recent supplement in the Saturday Times, a UK newspaper- carried a front page asking- what if depression isn't all in the mind? The article goes on to present research by the British psychiatrist Edward Bullmore. Edward was a trainee physician in 1989 when he first looked at the immune system and depression. Bullmore states that "depression can be a product of both the mind and the body. The mind picks up sensory signals that cause stress, the body becomes inflamed, and the inflammation enters the brain, and this in turn affects the mind. Its a hall of mirrors" (The Times, 2018, p21).
The relationship between inflammation in the body and depression is still being researched but we have already begun to see connections. If you take blood samples from people who say they feel depressed, there is a higher level of inflammation in the body then samples from people who are not low in mood.
The mind and the body cannot easily be separated. If we think holistically everything is inter-connected. Depression is related to what some health professionals call "bio, psycho, social". We cannot look at one area- psychology without also considering social and biological links. Depression and mental ill health is not therefore all in the mind.
What I will be considering in later posts is the relationship between improved diets and mental health. It has often be said that we are what we eat. Hippocrates, the ancient philosopher said "let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".
If we began to eat better we might also begin to feel better. I would suggest that what we eat can really affect our mood and serotonin levels. It might not be the advice every doctor gives you but some of us have known for a long time- that Hippocrates was right and if we eat good food, we will feel good.
This begins to explain the relationship between a good diet and improved mental health. We all know that what we eat fuels the physical body but we may not always consider that what we eat affects how we think and feel.
Research of young children at school in the UK has suggested that improved diets leads to improved academic achievement. CASA in the USA also has published evidence that children who eat regular family meals are less likely to commit crime and have better school results.
In a recent supplement in the Saturday Times, a UK newspaper- carried a front page asking- what if depression isn't all in the mind? The article goes on to present research by the British psychiatrist Edward Bullmore. Edward was a trainee physician in 1989 when he first looked at the immune system and depression. Bullmore states that "depression can be a product of both the mind and the body. The mind picks up sensory signals that cause stress, the body becomes inflamed, and the inflammation enters the brain, and this in turn affects the mind. Its a hall of mirrors" (The Times, 2018, p21).
The relationship between inflammation in the body and depression is still being researched but we have already begun to see connections. If you take blood samples from people who say they feel depressed, there is a higher level of inflammation in the body then samples from people who are not low in mood.
depression and mental health is not all in the mind
The mind and the body cannot easily be separated. If we think holistically everything is inter-connected. Depression is related to what some health professionals call "bio, psycho, social". We cannot look at one area- psychology without also considering social and biological links. Depression and mental ill health is not therefore all in the mind.
What I will be considering in later posts is the relationship between improved diets and mental health. It has often be said that we are what we eat. Hippocrates, the ancient philosopher said "let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".
If we began to eat better we might also begin to feel better. I would suggest that what we eat can really affect our mood and serotonin levels. It might not be the advice every doctor gives you but some of us have known for a long time- that Hippocrates was right and if we eat good food, we will feel good.
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