or starters, antidepressants don’t work for more than half the people who take them. New findings from an investi- gation at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medi- cine suggest that antidepressants fall short because they’re aimed at the wrong biochemical targets in the brain. Research led by Northwestern psychiatry professor Eva
The Trouble with Antidepressants
F
Redei, Ph.D., using rats (their brains are remarkably similar to ours in areas related to depression), suggests that antidepres- sants are more suited to treating stress than depression and undermines the belief that stress itself can be a major cause of depression. Redei’s research further suggests why
antidepressants that aim to boost levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are also often ineffec- tive. Her team did not find the dramatic differences in the levels of genes controlling the function of these neurotransmitters that would be expected if depression were related to their activity.
In a Neuroscience 2009 conference presentation, Redei concluded that today’s antidepressants have been focusing primarily on the effects of depression, not its cause. Renowned integrative physician Andrew Weil comments that in his view, meditation and regular aerobic exercise are more effective depression busters.
Yoga’s Mindfulness Helps Control Weight
N
ew, long-term research by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shows that middle-aged people who
practice yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not, independent of other physical activity and changes in dietary habits. The difference is that yoga teaches mindful eating. The researchers found that people who were aware of
why they ate and stopped eating when satisfied weighed less than those who ate without that aware- ness. Yoga cultivates mindfulness in a number of ways, starting with being able to hold a challenging pose. A practitioner’s ability to be calm and observant dur- ing physical discomfort
teaches how to maintain calm
in other challenging situations as well, such as declining to eat when we’re not hungry or not eating extra food when it tastes especially good. Satisfaction also comes from awareness of how food looks, tastes and
smells.
The researchers concluded that mindfulness appears to be a state that can augment the usual approaches to weight loss, such as counting calories, limiting portion size and not eating when emotionally upset or depressed. Adding yoga practice to a standard weight-loss program may both make it more effective and promote eating behavior that is healthy and empowering.
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in what- ever remains to them?
~Rose Kennedy
April 2010
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