RESEARCH FINDS DEPRESSION IS LINKED TO ALLERGIC REACTION TO INFLAMMATION

RESEARCH FINDS DEPRESSION IS LINKED TO ALLERGIC REACTION TO INFLAMMATION

By lifehack.org - Hannah Glenn

Inflammation is a buzzword these days. We might be familiar with inflammation in the sense of having a messed-up knee from a sports injury, but what is it in the broader sense?

Inflammation can also be a systemic problem affecting the major organs and the entire body. It’s interesting to note that “pain may not be a primary symptom of an inflammatory disease, since many organs do not have many pain-sensitive nerves.”

Generally feeling achy, having low energy, shortness of breath, skin issues, and fluid retention are possible symptoms. Perhaps most surprising are correlations research is finding between inflammation and depression.

However, Tim De Chant of NOVA writes, “Inflammation is our immune system’s natural response to injuries, infections, or foreign compounds. When triggered, the body pumps various cells and proteins to the site through the blood stream, including cytokines, a class of proteins that facilitate intercellular communication. It also happens that people suffering from depression are loaded with cytokines.” According to this and other similar articles, depression qualifies as a symptom of an allergic reaction to inflammation.

An article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience notes, “Inflammation is therefore an important biological event that might increase the risk of major depressive episodes.” This is specifically true in those with chronic, systemic infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

Chronic inflammation, in terms of autoimmune disease, is essentially the body’s defense mechanism gone rogue, or at least extreme. White blood cells react to and damage the body’s own tissues in the absence of foreign invaders.

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