Understanding Depression



Depression can kill you unless you don't
do something about it. Credit here

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one life is taken away every 40 seconds while an estimated one million deaths worldwide is due to suicide. Depression is one of the reasons why people commit suicide, with women twice likely to suffer from this condition than men.

Filipinos are known as one of the happiest people in the world. Surprisingly, WHO reported that the Philippines holds the highest depression incidence in Southeast Asia with 93 out of 100,000 Filipinos committing suicides.

Several factors contribute to depression among women but one of the reasons is due to hormonal imbalance. Women should realize the possible long-term effect of this condition since most of them seem not bothered with an irregular menstrual cycle.

When a woman fails to ovulate every month, the ovaries cannot produce enough progesterone in the body and obviously, progesterone level will drop while the estrogen level increases. Researchers believed there is a relation on female hormones and one’s mood because estrogen and progesterone directly affect the neuroendocrine, neurotransmitter, and circadian systems which are related to mood disorders.

Estrogen boosts serotonin which fights depression and increases the “happy hormone” endorphin while progesterone balances the estrogen level in the body, promotes sleep, and stabilizes the libido (which is a natural antidepressant). Low estrogen level can cause depression while unstable progesterone level causes insomnia and bad mood.  Another hormone that affects one’s mood is cortisol which manages the body’s ability to handle stress.  High cortisol level causes agitation and insomnia while low cortisol level results to extreme fatigue and inability to deal with stress, and mood swings.

The fluctuating levels of these two female hormones cause pre-menstrual syndrome or PMS wherein women suffer from anxiety, irritation, and headaches. However, a simple PMS can lead to pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) wherein patients cannot cope with their condition or worse, experience great depression. The last thing that we want to happen to an extremely depressed person is to commit suicide right?

To prevent this from happening, a change in lifestyle won’t hurt that much. Get involved with physical activities and stay away from products that have high levels of chemicals on it. Load yourself with foods rich in phytoestrogens like corn, apples, broccoli, cucumber, cabbage, wheatgerm, and even soymilk. These practices help restore hormonal balance in the body. More importantly, seek medical assistance since they know how to address your concerns.