Study shows that body temperature has been linked to depression
A recent study found that people with depression have higher body temperatures
A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco (US) found that people with depression have higher body temperatures, suggesting that lowering their body temperatures may be beneficial for their mental health.
The research, which was published in Scientific Reports, doesn't indicate whether depression causes a person's body temperature to rise or vice versa. It's also unclear if the higher body temperature seen in depressed individuals is due to a decreased ability to self-cool, an increase in heat production from metabolic processes, or a mix of the two.
Researchers examined information from over 20,000 participants worldwide, who self-reported their body temperatures and depressive symptoms on a daily basis while wearing a device that detects body temperature. The seven-month study that began in early 2020 includes data from 106 countries.
Ashley Mason, PhD, the study's lead author, an associate professor of psychiatry at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, said the results provided insight into the potential mechanisms underlying a unique depression therapy approach. Hot tubs and saunas have been shown to lower depression, according to a small body of existing, causal research. It might be the result of triggering the body to self-cool, for instance, by sweating.
Mason, said, "Ironically, heating people up actually can lead to rebound body temperature lowering that lasts longer than simply cooling people down directly, as through an ice bath." He added, “What if we can track the body temperature of people with depression to time heat-based treatments well?”
"To our knowledge, this is the largest study to date to examine the association between body temperature - assessed using both self-report methods and wearable sensors - and depressive symptoms in a geographically broad sample," said Mason. "
