According to new research, a balanced lifestyle that limits smoking and excessive sedentary behavior while promoting moderate alcohol use, a good diet, regular physical activity, healthy sleep, and frequent social connections lowers the risk of depression.
An international team of researchers, including those from the University of Cambridge and Fudan University, examined a variety of factors, including lifestyle choices, genetics, brain structure, and our immune and metabolic systems, in order to identify the underlying mechanisms that may explain this connection.
The World Health Organization estimates that one in 20 persons globally suffers from depression, which has a considerable negative impact on public health. There are a variety of complex elements that can contribute to the development of depression.
The researchers were able to pinpoint seven healthy lifestyle characteristics associated with a lower risk of depression by analyzing data from nearly 290,000 individuals, 13,000 of whom had depression, over the course of a nine-year period. As follows:
usage of alcohol in moderation
exercising frequently
balanced diet
adequate slumber
not smoking
Sleeping well — between seven and nine hours every night — made the biggest difference of all these variables, lowering the risk of depression, including single depressive episodes and treatment-resistant depression, by 22%.
The best defense against recurring depressive disorder was frequent social interaction, which decreased the incidence of depression by 18% overall.