We have repeatedly heard that depression is due to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain without specification of those chemicals and why they even became imbalanced. I will outline to you what I think is amiss and how to prevent and alleviate the condition of depression.
By not following The Pillars described in previous chapters, we run the risk of not having certain chemicals in our brains in sufficient amounts to function correctly. Specifically these chemical deficiencies are those, which are responsible for thinking, memory, feeling happy, libido, good sleeping and just overall energy. To name the main players I will mention serotonin, endorphins, TRH, GABA, adrenaline and thyroxin. Cortisol is also a player but I think that in depression it gets produced in a chaotic excess pattern more than that it is in a deficient state. So depression can ensue by not having good nutrition (vitamins included), not having enough physical activity, not sleeping regularly and not avoiding harmful substances, or a combination in varying degrees of some or all of the above.
Stress is another player that I would like to talk a little about. If a person is healthy and gets exposed to severe acute emotional stress then their reserves of the chemicals mentioned above will be drawn upon and they will be able to withstand the onslaught and not develop depression. But, if the stress is long enough, the reserves will be depleted and the depression syndrome will develop. On the other hand an unhealthy person can develop depression even without emotional stresses.
Another factor is that people who have abused their bodies with harmful substances which shut down the body’s own “machinery” for producing the chemicals above, will be much more likely to develop depression. An example of this is people who have been addicted to narcotics will have deconditioned endorphin-producing tissue. This will of course predispose them to depression but the degree of predisposition will vary with how much and how long they were addicted. Alcohol will hurt the body in a similar way. In general my advice for curing the common form of depression is to apply The Pillars Of Health judiciously and use antidepressant medicines temporarily as a helping tool. Once reasonable improvement has occurred then the antidepressants may be weaned off.
Supplements of 5-HTP, and tyrosine are beneficial in this context and will assist above curing process and assist the onboard antidepressant by supplying the building blocks for serotonin in the instance of 5-HTP, and adrenaline and noradrenaline in the instance of tyrosine. This must be done under your doctor’s supervision.
Does light or sunlight play a role in depression?
Light, especially sunlight definitely plays a role and this becomes most evident in the condition of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The importance of light as a corrective treatment in SAD, with results superior to placebo has been established.[1]
What appears to happen in SAD, is production of the neurotransmitter serotonin is disrupted. It has been seen that the turnover (production and metabolism) of serotonin by the brain was lowest in winter, and more significantly the rate of production of serotonin by the brain was directly related to the prevailing duration of bright sunlight. The production rose rapidly with increased light intensity.[2] In a situation of lower production of brain serotonin then we can anticipate the presence of depressive symptoms of tiredness, dejectedness, appetite changes (possibly anorexia or maybe increased desire for carbohydrates) and so on.
I don't believe vitamin D plays a major role in SAD, although I would anticipate it may have a minor one, by virtue of its importance in calcium and phosphate absorption. It has been seen to have a positive impact on depression.[3] This stance should not be interpreted as belittling the role of vitamin D in health as I am a big proponent of its supplementation into our diets.
[Rev.1/2/2012]
References:
[1] B Byrne, GC Brainard (2008) Seasonal Affective Disorder and Light Therapy Sleep Medicine Clinics 3: 307 - 315. Doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2008.01.012.
[2] G Lambert, C Reid, D Kaye, G Jennings, M Esler (2002) Effect of sunlight and season on serotonin turnover in the brain The Lancet 360: 1840 - 1842. Doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11737-5.
[3] Women's mental health: depression and anxiety. Nursing Clinics of North America - Volume 44, Issue 3 (September 2009)
