Understanding And Coping With Depression In Women

What is depression?

Feeling sad is a normal reaction to difficult times in life. Depression is different—it is a mood disorder that can affect how a person feels, thinks, and acts. Read this fact sheet to learn about depression in women and ways to get help.

 Depression is a medical condition

Depression is a common but serious mood disorder. Research suggests that depression is caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors              . 

All people can feel depressed, but the disorder is especially common among women due to unique biological, hormonal, and social experiences. 

Depression is not brought on by anything a woman has or has not done, and it is not something she can “snap out” of. Most women need treatment and natural remedies to feel better.

 Depression has signs and symptoms to look out for

Sadness is only one part of depression. Other common symptoms include:

• Anxiety or irritability
• Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities
• Fatigue, lack of energy, or feeling slowed down
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
• Changes in sleep or appetite
• Physical aches or pains that do not have a clear physical cause
• Thoughts of death or suicide or suicide attempts

These symptoms can make it hard to think, work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy life. Talk to a health care therapist if you experience symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for at least 2 weeks. Depression does not look the same for everyone; some women may experience many symptoms, and others may experience only a few.

Communicating well with a health care provider can improve your care.

Certain types of depression are unique to women

Certain types of depression occur at specific stages of a woman’s life. Pregnancy, the postpartum period, the menstrual cycle, and perimenopause are associated with physical and hormonal changes that can bring on a depressive episode in some women.

• Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a more intense form of premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, that occurs in the weeks before menstruation. The disorder causes severe symptoms, such as depressed mood, anger or irritability, suicidal thoughts, appetite changes, bloating, breast tenderness, and joint or muscle pain.
• Perinatal depression occurs during pregnancy or after childbirth. It is more than the “baby blues” many new moms experience after giving birth. Women with perinatal depression feel extreme sadness, anxiety, and fatigue that may make it difficult to carry out daily tasks, including caring for themselves or others.
• Perimenopausal depression affects some women during the transition to menopause. Whereas abnormal periods, problems sleeping, mood swings, and hot flashes are common during the menopause transition, more extreme feelings of irritability, anxiety, sadness, or loss of enjoyment may be signs of depression.

You can get help for depression.

Even the most severe depression can be treated. Common treatments are natural antidepressant products , talk therapy (virtual or in person), or a combination of medication and therapy.

There is no “one-size-fits-all” for treatment. It may take trial and error to find the best one for you. A health care provider can explain the different options and help you choose the best treatment based on your symptoms. With help, you can feel better. 

How to cope with depression

Try these coping strategies if you're feeling depressed.

Stay in touch

Don't withdraw from life. Socialising can improve your mood. Keeping in touch with friends and family means you have someone to talk to when you feel low.  

Be more active

Take up some form of exercise. There's evidence that exercise can help lift your mood. If you haven't exercised for a while, start gently by walking for 20 minutes every day. 

Face your fears

Don't avoid the things you find difficult. When people feel low or anxious, they sometimes avoid talking to other people. Some people can lose their confidence in going out, driving or travelling.

If this starts to happen, facing up to these situations will help them become easier.

Don't drink too much alcohol

For some people, alcohol can become a problem. You may drink more than usual as a way of coping with or hiding your emotions, or just to fill time. But alcohol won't help you solve your problems and could also make you feel more depressed.

Try to eat a healthy diet

Some people don't feel like eating when they're depressed and are at risk of becoming underweight. Others find comfort in food and can put on excess weight.

Antidepressant can also affect your appetite.

If you're concerned about weight loss, weight gain or how antidepressants are affecting your appetite, talk to your therapist.

Have a routine

When people feel down, they can get into poor sleep patterns, staying up late and sleeping during the day. Try to get up at your normal time and stick to your routine as much as possible.

Not having a routine can affect your eating. Try to carry on cooking and eating regular meals.

Seeking help for depression

Get help if you're still feeling down or depressed after a couple of weeks.

Treatments for depression include talking therapies and natural health formulations.

 

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Overeating And Its Many Adverse Health Effects

Overeating is eating past the point of fullness. When we overeat, we eat even though we aren’t hungry. If it becomes a habit, overeating can lead to weight gain and eating disorders. Sometimes, it can affect  poise and personal carriage, especially in women and their desired curves. But overeating isn’t binge eating disorders.

Overeating is very common, and it’s biological. When you’re stressed, your body makes more of a hormone called cortisol. Increased cortisol, among other things, tells you it’s time to find food. It can make you crave foods high in sugar, fat or salt.

There are other factors at play here, too. How fast you eat, what you eat, when you eat and what you’re doing while you eat can all contribute to overeating.

Occasional overeating can cause stomach pain and indigestion, alter how your body regulates hunger and contribute to weight gain.

What are the symptoms of overeating?

When you overeat, you may feel:

• Acid reflux
• Bloating
• Gas
• Heartburn
• Nausea
• Stomach pain.
• Tired and sluggish.

You may also have these symptoms for other reasons, not just overeating. If these symptoms last more than a day or so, they may not be related to overeating. If they get worse or last for a week, contact a healthcare provider.

How long will the symptoms last?

The discomfort from overeating should start to get better a few hours later. Getting some exercise and drinking water may help you feel better faster.

How do you know when you’ve overeaten?

Overeating is eating past the point of fullness. But while you’re eating, it can be hard to tell when to stop, especially if you eat quickly or are busy with other things.

Typically, your body regulates hunger with hormonal signals. If it’s been a while since you last ate, your levels of a hormone called Ghrelin rise, which makes you hungry. After you eat, the hormone Leptin tells you you’re full.

Overeating overrides these signals. This disrupts the balance of the hormones that regulate our hunger and makes us more likely to eat for pleasure instead of energy.

You might not notice you’ve been overeating for about 20 minutes or so after you stop eating. Then, you may feel tired or have an upset stomach.

What causes overeating?

There are many causes of overeating, some related to the foods themselves, and others related to why or when we’re eating. Causes of overeating include:

• Emotional eating. You’re more likely to eat in times of stress, or if you’re in a bad mood, tired, bored or sad. Eating causes your brain to release endorphins, which are feel-good hormones. So, eating feels good for a lot of people. It’s something we can do when we feel overwhelmed or burnt out. When we eat because it feels good, and not necessarily because we’re hungry, we’re more likely to overeat.
• Preferred foods. It can be hard to stop eating foods you love. Foods like French fries, pizza, chocolate and ice cream are common foods to overeat.
• Highly processed foods. Processing and added flavors encourage you to eat for pleasure and to keep eating even when you’re not hungry.
• Time of day. Overeating is common in the evenings when you’re more likely to eat because it feels good and not just because your body needs the energy.
• Social situations. We gather around food a lot — on holidays, for sporting events and to connect with family and friends. In social situations, you may be more distracted, nervous or feel pressure to eat while everyone else is eating, even if you’re no longer hungry.
• Large portions. When you’re at a restaurant or eating buffet- or family-style, you’re more likely to eat larger portions.
• Certain medications can make you less likely to know when you’re full. Talk with your healthcare provider if you notice overeating after a medication change.
• Medical conditions. Some medical conditions can contribute to overeating, including premenstrual syndrome, a typical anxiety.

What happens to your body when you overeat?

• Overeating causes the stomach to expand beyond its normal size to adjust to the large amount of food. The expanded stomach pushes against other organs, making you uncomfortable. This discomfort can take the form of feeling tired, sluggish or drowsy. Your clothes also may feel tight, too.
• Eating too much food requires your organs to work harder. They secrete extra hormones and enzymes to break the food down.
• To break down food, the stomach produces hydrochloric acid. If you overeat, this acid may back up into the esophagus resulting in heartburn. Consuming too much food that is high in fat, like pizza and cheeseburgers, may make you more susceptible to heartburn.
• Your stomach may also produce gas, leaving you with an uncomfortable full feeling. 
• Your metabolism may speed up as it tries to burn off those extra calories. You may experience a temporary feeling of being hot, sweaty or even dizzy.

What are the long-term effects of overeating?

When you eat, your body uses some of the calories you consume for energy. The rest are stored as fat. Consuming more calories than you burn may cause you to become overweight or obese. This increases your risk for cancer and other chronic health issues that may require some natural health products to overcome.

Overeating -- especially unhealthy foods -- can take its toll on your digestive system. Digestive enzymes are only available in limited quantity, so the larger the amount of food you eat, the longer it takes to digest. If you overeat frequently, over time, this slowed digestive process means the food you eat will remain in the stomach for a longer period of time and be more likely to turn into fat.

Overeating can even impact your sleep. Your circadian clock, which controls your sleep cycles, causes your sleep and hunger hormone levels to rise and fall throughout the day. Overeating can upset this rhythm, making it hard for you to sleep through the night.

What should I do after overeating?

If you overeat, feeling shame or blaming yourself won’t help you feel better. Remember that overeating is common. You might feel bad for a few hours and it’s important to be kind to yourself while your digestive system works. There are some things you can do to help your body digest your meal and get you back on track. For example:

• Take a walk. Getting moderate exercise can help reduce gas and regulate your blood sugar.
• Stay hydrated. Your digestive system will need more water to process the extra load.
• Herbal teas can help with digestion and reduce gas.

 

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Secondhand Smoking: What It Is, Risks And Preventive Measures

What is secondhand smoking?

Secondhand smoking is the inhaling of smoke being exhaled by a smoker. Can secondhand smoke increase your risk of having a heart attack?

Answer From Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D.

Yes. Secondhand smoke exposure is a risk factor for having a heart attack in both men and women. Secondhand smoke includes the smoke from a burning cigarette or pipe and the smoke a tobacco user breathes out.

Any amount of secondhand smoke is bad for the heart and blood vessels. Breathing secondhand smoke can cause the cells in the blood that are responsible for clotting, called platelets, to become very sticky. This makes blood more likely to clot. If a clot blocks blood flow, a heart attack or stroke can occur.

Secondhand smoke makes the arteries not able to widen. This condition is called endothelial dysfunction. It's associated with many forms of cardiovascular disease.

Chemicals in secondhand smoke also irritate the lining of the arteries, causing them to swell and become stiff. Such inflammation can narrow the arteries, increasing the risk of heart-related chest pain and heart attacks.

Many studies have found that heart attack rates go down in areas after smoke-curbing laws are passed.

Second hand smoking can also affect fertility in both men and women.

How can I protect myself and my family from secondhand smoke in my home?

• There is no safe amount of secondhand smoke exposure. The home is the main place many children and adults breathe in secondhand smoke.
• To protect yourself and those around you, do not smoke or let anyone smoke in your home or car. Encourage family members to quit smoking.
• Smoke from one cigarette can stay in a room for hours. Please, note that opening windows and using fans, air conditioners, air purifiers, air fresheners, and ventilation systems does not get rid of secondhand smoke.
• Smoking in another room—like a bathroom or bedroom—will not protect children and others from the effects of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke can still spread through your home. It can travel through doorways, cracks in walls, electrical lines, ventilation systems, and plumbing.
• In an apartment building, secondhand smoke can travel between apartment units.
• Prohibiting all tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, in the home can set a good example for young people. It can also protect people who do not use e-cigarettes from exposure to e-cigarette emissions. The e-cigarette aerosol that people who use e-cigarettes breathe from the device and exhale can contain harmful and potentially harmful substances.

How can I protect myself and my family from secondhand smoke outside of my home?

If your child goes to daycare or school, talk to the provider or school officials to make sure they have a tobacco-free policy for all facilities. This type of policy can set a good example for young people. It can also protect children from secondhand smoke and e-cigarette emissions. Examples includes:

• Tobacco-free school events.
• Tobacco-free school policies that apply to buildings and grounds and include e-cigarettes.

If neither your state nor community have adopted laws preventing exposure to secondhand smoke in public areas, look for restaurants and other public places that do not allow smoking. "No Smoking" sections in restaurants that separate people who smoke from those who do not smoke do not protect you or your children from secondhand smoke.

Women should also avoid shops where smoking is  not prohibited and order their personal care and beauty products where necessary.

Talk to your employer about the benefits of a smokefree policy in your workplace.

Educate others about the benefits of smokefree laws in public places, workplaces, and housing.

If you own or manage a business, adopt a smokefree policy for employees and customers.

Protecting your loved ones also means not using other types of commercial tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

• The aerosol from e-cigarette is not harmless . It can contain cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals like nickel, tin, and lead, among other chemicals.
• E-cigarettes are not safe for children, teens, young adults, pregnant adults, or people who do not already use tobacco.
• No e-cigarette has been approved by the FDA as a quit smoking aid. As mentioned above, there are proven tools that can help current smokers quit successfully.

If you smoke cigarettes, the best decision you can make for your health and your family's health is to quit.

Quitting smoking can be hard, and it can take many tries but the long term health benefits are worth the sacrifice.

 

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The Link Between Smoking And Heart Disease

            How harmful is smoking?

Smoking is very harmful to your heart. It seriously increases your risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases and even affects your digestive system.

To keep your heart healthy, you can make some lifestyle changes to help you quit smoking.

What does smoking do to my heart and circulatory system?

The chemicals in cigarettes make the walls of your arteries sticky. This causes fatty material to stick to the walls. The fatty material can begin to clog your arteries and reduce the space for blood to flow properly.

• If the arteries that carry blood to your heart get clogged, it can lead to a heart attack .
• If the arteries that carry blood to your brain get clogged, it can lead to a stroke.

Smoking can also affect your heart and blood vessels by:

• increasing your risk of blood clots
• causing an instant rise to your heart rate
• causing an instant rise to your blood pressure .
• reducing the amount of oxygen delivered to the rest of your body.

What are the benefits of quitting smoking?

You might notice benefits sooner than you think:

• your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to return to normal after 20 minutes
• your sense of smell and taste will begin to improve after 2-3 days
• your risk of a heart attack is half that of a smoker after 1 year.

Quitting smoking also has other benefits like:

• you will have fresher breath and whiter teeth
• your skin will look younger and age less quickly
• you might have more energy, feel less tired and get less headaches
• your immune system will find it easier to fight off colds and flu
• your sex drive may increase, and it can improve your fertility
• you will protect the health of your children, family and friends.

It’s never too late to benefit from stopping smoking. On average, smokers who quit in their 30s will add 10 years to their life. Even quitting at 60 will add 3 years. Being a non-smoker can also improve your chances of being more physically active and healthier as you get older.

What is in a cigarette?

Cigarettes contain many toxic chemicals that harm your body even after you’ve finished your cigarette. Some of the harmful chemicals used in cigarettes are:

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas. It prevents your blood from carrying oxygen around your body properly. This forces your heart to work harder than it should. It also stops your lungs working as well as they should.

Tar

Tar stains smokers’ teeth and fingers a yellow-brown colour. It is very harmful to your health, it can cause:

• cancer
• lung disease
• heart and circulatory diseases
• your lungs to be more vulnerable to infections

Nicotine

Nicotine is the addictive chemical found in regular cigarettes, most e-cigarettes and shisha. It increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Untreated high blood pressure can increase the risk of:

Stroke

Heart Attack

kidney failure

Vascular Dementia problems with your sight.

Are smoking alternatives less harmful than cigarettes?

No smoking alternatives are risk-free but some are less harmful than cigarettes.

E-cigarettes

E-cigarettes, or vapes, are less harmful than regular cigarettes and they can be used to help you quit smoking. An e-cigarette is a device that you breath in vapour (steam) from rather than smoke.

The vapour contains nicotine, the addictive chemical used in cigarettes. E-cigarettes don’t burn tobacco and they don’t produce tar or carbon monoxide.

E-cigarettes can help you quit smoking by managing your cravings for nicotine. But because they use nicotine, e-cigarettes can be addictive. You should only use your e-cigarette when you really need it. If you have used e-cigarettes to successfully quit smoking normal cigarettes, you should consider quitting these as well.

E-cigarettes should not be used by non-smokers or young people.

Shisha

Shisha is not safer than smoking cigarettes. A specially prepared tobacco is heated to produce smoke. The smoke bubbles through a bowl of water and into a long hose-like pipe to be breathed in.

Despite what some believe, shisha isn’t an alternative to cigarettes. Like cigarettes, shisha tobacco can contain:

• nicotine
• tar
• carbon monoxide
• heavy metals such as arsenic and lead.

Even if you use tobacco-free shisha, the smoke still produces harmful levels of toxins. This can be either just as bad for you or even more harmful than smoke from tobacco-based shisha.

In a shisha session (which usually lasts 20-80 minutes), a shisha smoker can inhale the same amount of smoke as a cigarette smoker consuming over 100 cigarettes.

Smokeless tobacco

Smokeless tobacco is not safer than smoking cigarettes. It’s a type of tobacco that can either be chewed, sucked, or inhaled without producing smoke.

Most smokeless tobaccos have the same amount of nicotine as cigarettes. They can also have more than 25 chemicals that are known to cause cancer. Using smokeless tobacco can also increase your risk of having:

• complicated pregnancies
• mouth and tooth problems
• heart and circulatory diseases.

You might see smokeless tobacco being called snuff, snus or spit tobacco.

Low tar cigarettes

Smoking ‘low tar’ cigarettes is not safer than smoking regular cigarettes. Some cigarette packages describe the product as ‘low tar’, but this is misleading. Most ‘low tar’ cigarettes have the same amount of harmful chemicals as regular cigarettes.

‘Low tar’ cigarettes are often found in countries where the process of making cigarettes is not well regulated.

Around half of all long-term smokers die early from smoking-related conditions, like heart and circulatory diseases. Even if you’ve smoked for years, it’s never too late to stop. If you quit today, you might feel more energised to play with your children or grandchildren in just a couple of weeks.

 

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