A healthy lifestyle is about more than cardio.
In our new series In Your Feelings with Samantha Boardman, MD, she’s helping you better understand your emotions. This article originally appeared in her substack The Dose, which you can subscribe to here.
OK, it’s time for a pop quiz that really matters. Here are seven questions — and your answers (feel free to jot them down) have serious implications for your mental health:
- Do you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night?
- How much junk food do you consume?
- Do you make time for friends and family?
- Do you exercise regularly?
- How many hours a day do you sit at your desk?
- Do you smoke cigarettes?
- How much alcohol do you consume?
A study published in Nature Mental Health found that a healthy lifestyle can prevent depression, even in those who had a genetic predisposition. While pharmaceutical advertisements have led many to believe that major depressive disorder is caused by a lack of neurotransmitters, it’s become increasingly clear that depression is much more than a chemical imbalance.
Remember the classic Zoloft commercial from the early 2000s showing that sad blob with a cloud following it around? The voiceover explains, “While the cause is unknown, depression may be related to an imbalance of natural chemicals between nerve cells in the brain. Prescription Zoloft works to correct this imbalance.”
Zoloft transforms the sad blob into a smiling blob and the cloud literally dissipates. But more-recent evidence paints a more complicated picture debunking this simplistic model. Antidepressant medications work for some people, but not because they correct a chemical imbalance; in fact, it remains unclear exactly how they work.
What is clear is how daily habits can boost mental health. Researchers examined data from almost 290,000 people — of whom 13,000 had depression — over a nine-year period, and identified seven healthy lifestyle behaviors linked with a lower risk of depression. Let’s refer back to those questions from earlier:
Prioritize sleep
Do you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night? Sleeping seven to nine hours per night reduced the risk of depression — including single depressive episodes and treatment-resistant depression — by 22 percent. Of all the depression-reducing factors, getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis made the biggest difference.
Eat well
How much junk food do you consume? People who maintained a healthy diet were 6% less likely to report an episode of depression. Increasing evidence shows that the Mediterranean diet can boost mood and dial down symptoms of depression and anxiety. Refined carbs, processed foods, and sugary drinks are bad for the body and the brain.
Cultivate connections
Do you make time for friends and family? Frequent social connection reduced the risk of depression by 18 percent and was the most protective against recurrent depressive disorder. Put simply, happiness doesn’t only come from within, it also comes from “with.”
Move regularly
Do you exercise regularly? Frequent exercise can improve daily mood and also cuts the risk of depression by 14 percent. A related study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that physical activity was 1.5 times more effective than medication in reducing depression. Not surprisingly, the sports that give people the biggest boost typically involve others—tennis, soccer, and other team related activities.
Get up, stand up
How many hours a day do you sit at your desk? A sedentary lifestyle was considered independently from exercise in this study, so don’t take your daily Crossfit session into account. Taking breaks and stepping away from screens regularly reduced the chances of depression by 13 percent. So if you’re reading this sitting down, please stand up and stretch.
Don’t smoke
Do you smoke cigarettes? Never smoking decreased the risk of depression by 20 percent. Enough said.
Drink less
How much alcohol do you consume? Moderate alcohol consumption decreased the risk of depression by 11%, so when it comes to drinking, less is clearly more. Greater than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men can actually increase the risk of depression.
These seven lifestyle factors are more than icing on the cake: I would argue that they are the cake. People who maintained most of these healthy habits — five or more — had a 57 percent lower risk of depression. We all know that a healthy lifestyle is important for our physical health; it’s just as important for our mental health.
The bottom line? While many with depression benefit from medication and therapy, lifestyle “medicine” can make a meaningful difference in reducing symptoms — and preventing it altogether.
Dr. Samantha Boardman is a New York-based positive psychiatrist committed to fixing what’s wrong and building what’s strong. Based on 15 years of experience, she helps clients cultivate vitality and boost resilience. Visit her website, follow her on Instagram, or read her newsletter, The Dose.
