According to the World Health Organization, there are 121 million people around the world who are clinically depressed. In fact, cases of depression have been increasing at an alarming rate of 20% every year. If you are wondering why depression is such an issue, here are 4 scientifically backed reasons.
4) Toxic food is poisoning our brains.
Junk food has actually been scientifically linked to depression. A team from the University College London who researched about the relationship of between diet and depression has discovered that people who regularly consume fried food, sweet desserts, processed meat, high-fat dairy products and refined grains are 58% more likely to be clinically depressed.
On the other hand, people who eat a diet rich in whole foods like vegetables, fruits and lean protein were found to be 26% less likely to be depressed.
A diet mainly consisting of processed food sorely lacks the key nutrition which helps your mind and body to function properly. After all, you can never find magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids and other trace minerals in a pop tart.
3) Heavy metal toxicity is the silent culprit.
Although conventional medicine does not consider the risk of heavy metal poisoning, the truth is that there is no safe level of heavy metal exposure and if it happens to be in your system, it is doing damage.
Heavy metals like mercury, cadmium and lead have been known to impair cognitive function, causing depression as well as other neuropsychiatric symptoms. The bad thing about this is that metals accumulate inside the body over time, so it actually does not take a major exposure to cause long-term damage.
If you think this applies to you, search online for heavy metal detox protocols. Some sources of heavy metal include, vaccines, lead-based paint (for houses built before 1978), mercury fillings, contaminated fish and cigarettes.
2) Lack of nature.
According to to the UK-based mental health charity Mind, 90% of people who have tried eco-therapy have derived significant emotional benefits from practicing it. Some examples of ec0-therapy include gardening or going to nature hikes.
Another report from the UK charity Ramblers and Macmillan Cancer Support states that as little as 2 hours per week of gardening or walking can lower stress levels as well as promote good health and well-being.
Additionally, a study done in the University of Colorado suggests that camping in nature for a week will reset your body clock as well as bring out positive hormonal change, making you more mentally alert.
1) Psychological attachments is making people miserable.
Psychological attachments happen when the feeling of misery is more familiar than feeling good about yourself. If you grew up in a dysfunctional family, you were likely forced to internalize all the negative and painful messages you received. And as a clueless child, you probably did the only thing you could: learn to tolerate it. In other words, you have unwittingly developed an unhealthy tolerance for painful emotional angst, even though you despised it. And since emotional angst is the the norm in your life, this encourages you to keep on doing the things that keep you from being happy. In fact, for people with psychological attachments, happiness is a foreign thing that they cannot tolerate as it makes them feel strange and scared.
Psychological attachment is one of the most overlooked and neglected health phenomena in our present day psychology. Because of these subconscious tendencies, people unwittingly do self-sabotaging behavior, setting themselves up for misery.
