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Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

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Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#61

I feel like at some point we're gonna discover depression is basically some kind of inflammatory disease

You know there's so much talk on many physical symptoms being "psychogenic" or whatever. Even psychologists or general medical professionals will claim that whatever symptoms you are feeling are probably psychogenic. It makes me wonder if many things might be the other way around. That there's clear physical reasons for many mental or psychological problems. It's just always easier to claim something is psychogenic w…

It doesn’t mean that they are imagining it. Why is it hard to see that the organ that controls the whole body has a say into pain/inflammation, and all that? It can send my heart rate to the sky before a presentation, make my stomach ready for digestion on the sight of a billboard, etc.

I don’t know, the reverse that mental diseases don’t cause physical symptoms seems harder to believe.

It all just shows that we don’t take mental health seriously enough.

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depressive disorders are understood to involve alterations in inflammation pathways. SSRIs and SNRIs have been documented to induce alterations in multiple inflammatory pathways, coinciding with improvement of depression symptoms. That doesn’t imply that depression is a simple result of inflammatory processes, it just shows that depression is a cross-cutting alteration to the body’s function on many levels. In some c…

Is it possible that these physical markers are a result of how a person tends to live when depressed? When I’m in a depressive state I’m generally eating garbage food, drinking a lot, and not sleeping much (staying up late, but still needing to get up for work). All of this is going to lead to a lot of inflammation and other negative physiological outcomes. I’m dealing with this right now. I have mild chest pain, and…

Too much sleep can also have detrimental effects to your health; I used to think that more sleep was always good. I gained the ability to sleep as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted and it was great … for a while.

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depressive disorders are understood to involve alterations in inflammation pathways. SSRIs and SNRIs have been documented to induce alterations in multiple inflammatory pathways, coinciding with improvement of depression symptoms. That doesn’t imply that depression is a simple result of inflammatory processes, it just shows that depression is a cross-cutting alteration to the body’s function on many levels. In some c…

Is it possible that these physical markers are a result of how a person tends to live when depressed? When I’m in a depressive state I’m generally eating garbage food, drinking a lot, and not sleeping much (staying up late, but still needing to get up for work). All of this is going to lead to a lot of inflammation and other negative physiological outcomes. I’m dealing with this right now. I have mild chest pain, and…

If someone’s coping mechanism is unhealthy lifestyle, then it can surely have an effect, but it is absolutely not surprising that certain mental health issues can in and of itself cause physical symptoms.

Like, you wouldn’t be surprised that a panic attack causes an actual hormonal response, that will actually cause the heart rate to jump, etc. Why are we surprised that depression causes other symptoms?

Also, it is well documented that when the husband/wife in an elderly couple passes, the other often follows them. Also, will of living greatly corresponds to survival in hospitalized elderly.

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#65
post #58

maybe weird... I'm suffering from migraine sometimes, my face starts feeling cold, including teeth and hard palate. So I measured and it was 33 c°, told a few doctors and got no response, still looking for a cause/solution. I'm also a depression sufferer, and the days after seem to be more anxious. Tried to go to the sauna with the symtoms, but couldn't handle more than 20 minutes last time. Felt better right after,…

If 33C is your core temp that's way low. You should escalate that beyond just telling doctors, it may be a serious blood pressure issue (or your thermometer might be off!).

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#66

About one in five adults wore a fitness tracker, either as a band or smartwatch, in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. I'm sure it's higher now and yet obesity rates keep going up. Shows how ineffective these solutions are. People are more active and tracking their calories yet weight gain is unstoppable.

That's a very generalised take with a big assumption. I don't think wearing a smartwatch will immediately shed you weight. You actually need to actively put in the work both through exercise and a proper diet. A watch is just a tool that supports the rest of it. More people might be consuming diet beverages as well and yet weights might be going up, that may not necessarily be the failing of the diet beverage.

I think that at this point of the obesity epidemics, we should entertain the idea that there are non-behavioral factors in play as well. Not just "putting in the work", but a more complex metabolic picture.

As we are talking about smartwatches, let me chime in with my personal, N == 1 observation.

I bought a smartwatch on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine (the timing was an accident, though). So, two years by now. I set up 10 thousand steps to be the goal and since then, I met that goal 98 % of the time, missing only 13 days. I loved walking before, but I stayed home when it was too hot, too cold or too rainy; now I go out anyway, so my daily amount of steps has significantly increased. By how much? Not sure, but 30 per cent at least, possibly up to 40 per cent. My daily average now is just slightly under 13 thousand a day.

Now, there are visible and sometimes measurable improvements to my health:

* lower blood pressure (by some 8/4)

* lower resting heart rate (around 48-49, used to be more like 60),

* better immunity, I am no longer particularly sensitive to wind, rain etc.; I believe that this comes from constant exposure to all sorts of weather when walking outside,

* my knees have improved so much that I feel like being 20 again. I no longer remember which one gave me so much trouble that I almost ended up in surgery in 2017. They are both just fine.

But one parameter hasn't budged even the tiniest bit: my weight oscillates around the same base level. Something inside defends the set point, much like something else defends my body temperature.

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#67
post #43

I don't know if this is a wide phenomenon, but when I get angry or frustrated, my body temp skyrockets. I have to take off clothes I get hot so fast. Happens mostly when I'm working from home and getting pissed off at the computer.

well, if some of the reasoning in this thread is correct, maybe you need to take off your clothes to prevent yourself getting angry!

hey now

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#68
post #56

I am wondering if you can just cool down your body to fix it. I had panic attacks in the past and now from time to time i am experience mild anxiety. Eventually i learned that hot shower or hot bed (i have 8sleep) actually increases anxiety, making my bed colder calms anxiety. This makes sense since anxiety and many other disorders are just overloading the body and cooling down stops the chemical processes that cause…

Not sure about "fix" but cooling the body via hot showers is a fairly common recommendation for anxiety relief, especially prior to sleep.

Supposedly, if you cool the body down externally (cold shower, cold environment) it will try to increase body temp, but if you take a hot shower or sauna, the body will instead try to lower its temperature.

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#69
post #58

maybe weird... I'm suffering from migraine sometimes, my face starts feeling cold, including teeth and hard palate. So I measured and it was 33 c°, told a few doctors and got no response, still looking for a cause/solution. I'm also a depression sufferer, and the days after seem to be more anxious. Tried to go to the sauna with the symtoms, but couldn't handle more than 20 minutes last time. Felt better right after,…

I am not a doctor but i think 33 degrees celcius means you need to go to the ER.. or that your measurent device is off. I cannot see doctors letting you leave the hospital like that

Re: Fitness trackers find new symptom of depression: body temperature

#70
post #58

maybe weird... I'm suffering from migraine sometimes, my face starts feeling cold, including teeth and hard palate. So I measured and it was 33 c°, told a few doctors and got no response, still looking for a cause/solution. I'm also a depression sufferer, and the days after seem to be more anxious. Tried to go to the sauna with the symtoms, but couldn't handle more than 20 minutes last time. Felt better right after,…

Perhaps you have Beriberi and the extra thiamine from keto foods like the meat is helping?
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