7 key healthy lifestyle habits that help beat the blues

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Seven key healthy lifestyle habits really do help beat the blues, reveals new research.

And a good night's sleep is the most important, slashing the risk by 22 percent.

Light drinking, a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, quality sleep and a regular social life - while avoiding smoking and couch potato behavior - all reduce the risk of depression, according to the findings.

An international team, including Cambridge University researchers, looked at a combination of factors, including lifestyle habits, genetics, brain structure and our immune and metabolic systems to identify the underlying mechanisms that might explain the link.

Around one in 20 adults experiences depression, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the condition poses a significant burden on public health worldwide.

But scientists say that the multiple factors that influence the onset of depression are complicated and include a mixture of biological and lifestyle factors.

To better understand the relationship between depression and lifestyle, the researchers turned to the UK Biobank, a database containing anonymized genetic, lifestyle and health information about its participants.

By examining data from almost 290,000 people – of whom 13,000 had depression – followed over a nine-year period, the team was able to identify seven healthy lifestyle factors linked with a lower risk of depression.

These were moderate alcohol consumption, a healthy diet, regular physical activity, healthy sleep, never smoking, low-to-moderate sedentary behavior and frequent social connection.

Of all of the factors, having a good night’s sleep – between seven and nine hours a night – made the biggest difference, reducing the risk of depression, including single depressive episodes and treatment-resistant depression, by 22 percent.

Frequent social connection, which in general reduced the risk of depression by 18 percent, was the most protective against recurrent depressive disorder, according to the findings published in the journal Nature Mental Health.

Moderate alcohol consumption decreased the risk of depression by 11 percent, healthy diet by six percent, regular physical activity by 14 percent, never smoking by 20 percent, and low-to-moderate sedentary behavior by 13 percent.

Based on the number of healthy lifestyle factors a person stuck to, they were assigned to one of three groups: unfavorable, intermediate, and favorable lifestyle.

People in the intermediate group were around 41 percent less likely to develop depression compared to those in the unfavorable lifestyle group, while those in the favorable lifestyle group were 57 percent less likely.

The team then examined the DNA of the participants, assigning each a genetic risk score based on the number of genetic variants an individual carried that have a known link to risk of depression.

Those with the lowest genetic risk score were 25 percent less likely to develop depression when compared to those with the highest score – a much smaller impact than lifestyle.

In people at high, medium, and low genetic risk for depression, the team also discovered that a healthy lifestyle can cut the risk of depression.

They say the study underlines the importance of living a healthy lifestyle for preventing depression, regardless of a person's genetic risk.

Cambridge University Professor Barbara Sahakian said: “Although our DNA – the genetic hand we’ve been dealt – can increase our risk of depression, we’ve shown that a healthy lifestyle is potentially more important.

“Some of these lifestyle factors are things we have a degree control over, so trying to find ways to improve them – making sure we have a good night’s sleep and getting out to see friends, for example – could make a real difference to people’s lives.”

To understand why a healthy lifestyle might reduce the risk of depression, the team studied a number of other factors.

First off, they examined MRI brain scans from more than 30,000 participants and found a number of regions of the brain where a larger volume – more neurons and connections – was linked to a healthy lifestyle.

These included the pallidum, thalamus, amygdala and hippocampus.

The team then looked for markers in the blood that indicated problems with the immune system or metabolism.

Among the markers found to be linked to lifestyle were the C-reactive protein, a molecule produced in the body in response to stress, and triglycerides, one of the primary forms of fat that the body uses to store energy for later.

Those links are supported by a number of previous studies. For example, exposure to stress can affect how well we are able to regulate blood sugar, which may lead to a deterioration of immune function and accelerate age-related damage to cells and molecules in the body.

Lack of exercise and sleep can also damage the body’s ability to respond to stress.

Loneliness and lack of social support have been found to increase the risk of infection and increase markers of immune deficiency.

The researchers found that the pathway from lifestyle to immune and metabolic functions was the most significant.

In other words, a poorer lifestyle impacts on our immune system and metabolism, which in turn increases the risk of depression.

Dr. Christelle Langley, also of Cambridge University, said: “We’re used to thinking of a healthy lifestyle as being important to our physical health, but it’s just as important for our mental health.

"It’s good for our brain health and cognition, but also indirectly by promoting a healthier immune system and better metabolism.”

Professor Jianfeng Feng, of the University of Warwick and Fudan University in China, added: “We know that depression can start as early as in adolescence or young adulthood, so educating young people on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and its impact on mental health should begin in schools.”