Alcohol Abuse Advice

Depression or Eating Disorder – Which Came First?

Depression has a significant impact on how we live our lives and react to daily situations. There is a serious influence on a person’s attitude when a depression takes over. But, this is not the only effect that depression can have on the mind and body.

Specifically, depression can have a serious impact on a person’s appetite. Regardless of which came first, many people don’t realize just how serious this can be. I mean, how big a deal can depression induced appetite changes really be?

Actually, they can be extremely serious, and that’s why it should never be overlooked or taken too lightly.

Loss of Appetite

Many of us are overweight to begin with, so in the beginning a loss in weight is often welcome, and may even help with the early symptoms of depression. Over time though, with this continued loss of weight, health problems will eventually develop.

A prolonged loss of appetite can cause many serious health problems. A lack of eating can deny the body a number of very important nutrients that are required for a person to remain healthy and strong. Dizziness and fainting can occur due to an actual malnutrition.

In addition, this lack of eating can lead to the body’s metabolism slowing down. One effect of this is the body may start to consume its own muscle mass in order to preserve the body’s fat cells. Eventually, this can lead to low blood pressure and slower heart rates, having harmful effects on the heart muscle and possible heart problems.

Overeating

On the other side of the coin, many people will seek to alleviate their problems with depression by overeating, much like those with alcohol or drug addictions overdo it. In many ways, food can be a drug since it can affect the pleasure centers in the body.

When a person feels down and depressed, reaching for a large plate of food (especially sweets) can make the pain and problems go away, at least for a little while. Of course, this strategy will often lead to a number of physical problems down the road.

More often than not, the overeating will lead to obesity, or at least to a weight gain, which in turn can have a very negative effect on a person’s self-esteem. This lack of self-pride further increases a person’s depression and the cycle repeats, most often with additional weight gain and the deepening depression that’s sure to follow.

In Conclusion

When depression impacts a person’s desire to eat, a weakening of the immune system may result. This might start out as a simple case of the flu, and escalate into a more serious health condition, such a pneumonia, which can be quite serious, even life threatening.

Additionally, a lack of eating (especially in combination with depression) can develop into a major eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia, which can prove to be life threatening as well.

Overeating, and the obesity that may result, might also be the root cause of future heart attacks, strokes and diabetes as well.

There are many depression-warning signs; overeating and not eating surely make the list. Which problem occurred first is not as important as receiving treatment for both the depression, as well as the eating disorder, for helping one nearly always helps the other.