According to the World Health Organization, around one in 20 adults experiences depression, and the condition poses a significant burden on public health worldwide. The factors that influence the beginning of depression are complicated and include a mixture of biological and lifestyle factors. To better understand the relationship between these factors and depression, the researchers turned to the UK Biobank, a database containing genetic, lifestyle and health information about its participants.
By examining data from almost 290,000 people — of whom 13,000 had depression — followed over a nine-year period, the team was able to identify seven healthy lifestyle factors linked with a lower risk of depression. These were: moderate alcohol consumption, healthy diet, regular physical activity, healthy sleep, never smoking, low-to-moderate sedentary behaviour (久坐行为) and frequent social connection.
Of all these factors, having a good night’s sleep — between seven and nine hours a night — made the biggest difference, reducing the risk of depression by 22%. Frequent social connection, which in general reduced the risk of depression by 18%, was the most protective against recurrent depressive disorder. Moderate alcohol consumption decreased the risk of depression by 11%, healthy diet by 6%, regular physical activity by 14%, never smoking by 20%, and low-to-moderate sedentary behaviour by 13%. In people at high, medium, and low genetic risk for depression, the team further found that a healthy lifestyle can cut the risk of depression. This research underlines the importance of living a healthy lifestyle for preventing depression, regardless of a person’s genetic risk.
Professor Barbara Sahakian, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, said: “Although our DNA can increase our risk of depression, we’ve shown that a healthy lifestyle is potentially more important. Some of these lifestyle factors are things we have a degree control over, so trying to find ways to improve them — making sure we have a good night’s sleep and getting out to see friends, for example — could make a real difference to people’s lives.”
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