Depression, Exercise, and Weight Loss

It is widely known that exercise can ease the symptoms of depression – but how does it affect the body and weight loss?

One new study points towards startling evidence that indicates depression may have a severe affect on how our body responds to exercise. In this study, it was found that a person’s body recovered much slower if they had clinical depression compared to people who did not have depression.

What does this mean? Well, the slower our body’s heal – the more likely we are to suffer a severe injury. Also, slower recovery times tend to lead to shorter life spans – albeit it is not a proven fact.

Another troubling fact was that people with depression had to spend a longer period of time to bring down their heartbeat to a normal rate. In some cases, it took an extra 5 minutes for the heart to start beating at a normal rate. This can cause many different problems on its own.

Dr. Bacon, the lead researcher stated the following about the study, “The system is supposed to come back to normal quite quickly… But what we’re seeing in the patients with depression is the system is not relaxing and coming back to normal as it should. Something about being depressed probably has some influence on the circuitry of the brain that causes the stress response to become dysfunctional.”

In other words, depression not only affects us mentally, but can severely alter our physical body functions. Now, how does all of this tie in to weight loss?

Well, the evidence seems to indicate that our body functions are much slower. Our metabolism is slower, our thought process is slower, and the functions of the heart are much slower. All three of these factors can lead to drastic shifts in weight – and effectively kill any progress made.

 

Gum Disease and Body Fat

In a recent study, researchers have found a link between body fat and the risk of gum disease. The reason behind the link is because fat cells trigger inflammation in the body, which disappear after weight loss. Gum disease can erode bones and cause the teeth to fall out, which is why it is important to maintain proper dental hygiene.

In the study, 31 obese people with gum disease were observed. Half had a body mass index of (BMI) of 39, and also had gastric bypass surgery. A control group whose average BMI was 35 did not have surgery but still had treatment for gum disease.

All the participants were required to undergo specific treatments and had to follow strict dental hygiene at home.

At the end of the study, both groups should improvement for gum disease. However, the group who did undergo surgery healed much better, faster, and experienced less bleeding, probing, and plague levels.

What does this mean? This means that not only are fat cells harmful to your heart and overall functioning, but also your gums as well. This is just one of the many reasons everybody should try to lose belly fat.

 

Original Source: UPI.com