Body temperature and depression are significantly correlated, according to recent research from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which provides new insights into potential treatment strategies.
The study collected and analyzed data from 20,880 individuals across 106 nations over a period of seven months. The study found that when people are depressed, some may have higher body temperatures than others.
Because previous research was occasionally limited by small sample sizes, this study is one of the largest to examine this topic. Even if the UCSF study does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that depression causes elevated body temperature, the association it observed might open the door for more investigation.
According to Ashley Mason, PhD, the study's lead author and associate professor of psychiatry at UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, the results provide insight into the potential efficacy of a novel depression therapy approach. According to a tiny amount of existing, causal research, taking a sauna or hot tub can help people feel less depressed. This could be because it causes the body to self-cool, such by perspiration.
Mason, a clinical psychologist at the UCSF Osher Centre for Integrative Health, said, "It's ironic that heating people up can actually result in rebound body temperature lowering that lasts longer than simply cooling people down directly, like through an ice bath." "What if we can track the body temperature of people with depression to time heat-based treatments well?"
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest study to date to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and body temperature—as measured by both wearable sensors and self-report methods—in a geographically diverse sample," Mason continued. "Given the climbing rates of depression in the United States, we're excited by the possibilities of a new avenue for treatment."
This new relationship could lead to simple methods of treating depression symptoms. If additional research supports the idea that cooling therapy may benefit people with depression, it could transform how millions of people are treated globally.
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