IF YOU STRUGGLE with depression, you know all too well the condition doesn't just affect you mentally. The mental distress can manifest into a number of physical symptoms as well.
People with depression commonly face fatigue, trouble sleeping, and changes in appetite. It's also well-documented that high blood pressure and elevated of stress from depression can elevate the risk for cardiometabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart attack.
Does this mean the 21 million adults living in the US with depression are doomed to a future of heart and metabolic issues? Not necessarily. Adding to the complex relationship between physical and mental health is a new study presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Amsterdam that found the risk for cardiometabolic diseases varies depending on your depression profile. Here’s what you need to know.
For nearly seven years, researchers tracked 5,794 adults (average age about 56 years old), who had no history of diabetes and heart disease at the start of the study. The researchers had each of the participants fill out a questionnaire to determine their depressive symptoms and found that people with depression fell into two main camps: Those with “melancholic” symptoms, like getting up early and having a reduced appetite, and those with “atypical/energy-related" symptoms, like fatigue, and sleeping, and eating more than usual.
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