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Hearts and Minds

23 May, 2013 2 comments

Now this is very interesting. Young people with a close family history of depression but no depression themselves showing elevated risk factors for cardiovascular disease (hypertension, stiffened arterial walls, insulin resistance…).

Put that together with the emerging evidence that poor diet is associated with an increased rate of depression (and is not only secondary to the depression), and that young people who are obese have an elevated risk of adult depression, and the importance of proper healthful eating and physical activity starts to become very clear.

The mind, and its moods, are of course nothing more than functions of the brain, which being just a part of the body, must have evolved with the same basic requirements as the rest of the body. An organism that needs one set of conditions for proper brain function and another for proper cardiovascular function is not going to get far. So it makes sense that the two are this linked.

In fact, it’s not "the two", is it? It’s all one.

What to Do?

6 March, 2013 Reply

Here’s an interesting article (I don’t know how it came to me; it was one of the many tabs open in Safari on my iPad, but I have no idea whether it was emailed to me, or linked on twitter, or what). It’s a discussion by David H. Freeman of the problems to be found in health journalism:

Survival of the Wrongest

It’s worth a read, I think (just skip the comments, which become pointlessly argumentative from the first). Freeman is correct to point out the high rate of wrongness in medical research (have a look on Science Based Medicine for more on that), and he illustrates some of the discussion with reporting about obesity and weight loss.

On that note, I think one of the best things I’ve read recently on diet was on the Barefoot in Arizona blog (Ha! I’ve just created an infinite loop; cue giant sucking sound as the Universe implodes… It was that Barefoot in Arizona post that linked to the Freeman article. xP )… Anyway, what BFinAZ said, essentially, was that we all know what things are good for us (fruit, veges, exercise…) and what’s bad (processed food, lard, high fructose corn syrup,tobacco, inactivity…). Do more of the former, and less of the latter.

I think he puts it nicely:

"Now, assuming you’re with me so far, we have two lists that we can all agree on, one of things we know are good for us, and one of things we know are bad for us. Guess what? That’s really all you need to know to be healthy. The only secret to feeling better, weighing less, getting fitter and living longer is to get more of the first category and less of the second. It’s really that simple.

Now, obviously there are a lot of foods that don’t fall into our two groups, and aside from a few crackpot studies and diets (cough, Atkins, cough) it’s those other foods that are the subject of most of the health debate. It’s tempting to join in the fray, but first you really need to ask yourself this question: are you getting lots of our first group–are you eating tons of fruit and veggies and exercising regularly–and avoiding the second? Because if you aren’t bothering to do that, you have no business arguing the details of an optimum diet. Go finish learning arithmetic, and then we’ll talk trig."

The details are murky, yes, but the basics really are where most people seem to fall down, and are probably more useful to focus on.

It’s a Madhouse

7 December, 2013 Reply

So, the care of people with schizophrenia in Britain is in the news.

Sadly, there’s not much (if anything) different anywhere else I’ve worked or read about. People with schizophrenia often get no, or inadequate, care – delivered often in unhelpful environments or ways. Like people with other major psychiatric illnesses (though quite probably worse), they die very young. In many cases, meaningful relationships and satisfying employment are (kept) out of reach.

Sometimes the illness is such that our current treatments are inadequate, (and many of them do very clearly have major problems of their own), but sometimes (often?) it is the case that they are failed by the service – and by society.

We have come a long way in psychiatry, but there is still a long way to go.

Fit Teenagers, Happier Adults

14 June, 2013 Reply

There’s an interesting paper just published by the British Journal of psychiatry, that seems to demonstrate that better cardiovascular fitness as a teenager is correlated with decreased risk for later serious depression: press release here.

As I’ve been blithering about here – and have decided to move mostly to my shiny new Tumblr: The Running Reprobate, I’ve become a convert to running. I’ve experienced a really interesting lifting of mood every time I run – even if it’s only for 20 metres or something; running properly simply feels good.

Couple that with the evidence (at least suggestive; wish I knew where I’d seen it … Or maybe I heard it at the Brain Science Institute seminar last year – that could be it) that exercise is a really major factor in cognitive development/maintenance, and we really start to see that we should never stop running.

We know that exercise is good for depression (recent press notwithstanding), and that less fit adults – like adults with worse diets – are more likely to be depressed. Now it seems that fitness (and I’d lay good odds on diet as well) when younger has long-lasting effects on depression risk – suggesting that it is important in the brain developing properly.

So. Again: run, and don’t stop running.

And eat good noms: grains, nuts, oily fish, veggies…

Moves Like Haile (I wish…)

9 June, 2013 Reply

I went for my second run today. I headed out on the same route as last weekend, and was quite pleased with how I did. I got further up the last hill before giving in and walking, and when I reached the top, instead of collapsing against the nearest tree, I started running again, and got to the end of the fire trail, turned around, and ran back. While I did chunks of walking on the return journey, I ran more of it than I did last week – which was reflected in the fact I went further, in 5 minutes less. :D

My calves did let me know almost immediately that they hadn’t yet quite recovered from last weekend’s working-out. This unfortunately did mean the run wasn’t quite as enjoyable as it could have been, as I was conscious of my calves for most of the run. On the other hand, that led to quite focused consideration of my stride, which was interesting.

One particular thing I noticed was that the more like Haile Gebrselassie I ran (or rather, tried to run :P ) the more comfortable my calves were. The only problem was that after a few km of running, I lacked the cardio-respiratory oomph to do so for very long at all, and so had to revert to slower and smaller strides, not picking up my feet behind anywhere near as much.

I mention Gebrselassie not because he’s unique in his running style, but simply as an exemplar of excellent (and beautiful) running, and one who I have been checking out in videos lately. It was really interesting to me just how much better it felt to run like that – and particularly how much more comfortable my (quite sore) calves felt.

I was pleased to note that when I did walk briefly, my heart rate dropped quicker than I expected – and quicker than I think it did even a week ago. So I do hold out some hope I might be able to sustain the “Moves Like Haile” for longer as time goes on. ;)

Plus, I’m still enjoying it. In fact I’m finding myself breaking into a run at random times, just because I happen to feel like it at the time. 8)

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