Come on get happy

New research indicates that there is a connection between mood and weight. Get happy; lose weight.

The new study appears in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry and pulls together data from past research that shows having a boy mass index (BMI) of 30 or more (the definition of obese) increases a person’s risk of depression by 50 to 150%.

“I expect the relationship between depression and physical activity goes in both directions,” said lead author Gregory Simon, MD of Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. “Increased physical activity leads to improvement in depression and improvement in depression leads to increased physical activity. We see in our study that they go together, but we can’t why which causes which.” It’s vicious circle of mood and food.

The researchers studied two groups of women, both in the 30+ BMI range. One group focused on weight loss while the other focused on weight loss and mood enhancement. The groups were check periodically for over two years.

No matter what, changes which took place in the first six months stuck for the long haul, but for the women who improved their mood and decreased their depression, their weight loss was more significant.

“Most weight loss programs do not pay enough attention to screening and treatment of depression,” said Babak Roshanaei-Moghaddam, MD of the psychiatry and behavioral sciences department at the University of Washington in Seattle. “This study further underscores the importance of screening for depression in such programs that can potentially lead to both physical and psychological well-being.”

Source: Center for Advancing Health, ScienceDaily