14 DAY TRIAL // Having carried out a series of experiments and tests with the help of volunteers, researchers found that people who have a history of depression and who regularly get into fights with their spouses are more likely to gain weight up to the point where they can be labeled obese.
Oddly enough, it appears that the weight gain documented in the case of folks who at one point battled depression and who tend to have heated arguments with their better half on a regular basis is not simply due to fact that these people experience an increase in their appetite.
On the contrary, the Ohio State University scientists behind this research project argue that people with a history of depression and who are forced to deal with marital hostility display a series of biological symptoms that can fully explain why they tend to get fat.
Documenting how mental health influences physical wellbeing
As part of this investigation, the Ohio State University specialists recruited 43 healthy couples whose age ranged from 24 to 61. The couples that they settled on had all been married for at least 3 years at the time the study was carried out.
Having assessed the couples' marital satisfaction and having collected information concerning the participants' past mood disorders and depressive symptoms, the researchers served the volunteers a meal totaling 930 calories and 60 grams (2.11 ounces) of fat.
A couple of hours after feasting on the eggs, the turkey sausages, the biscuits, and the gravy provided by the scientists, the couples were asked to talk about the things that bothered them. Most of them discussed money, lack of communication, and in-laws.
Once the volunteers were done arguing, the researchers got busy measuring their energy expenditure and their glucose, insulin, and triglycerides levels. Such tests were carried at intervals of 60 minutes over the course of 7 hours.
How all the fighting affected the participants to this study
The tests that the volunteers were subjected to showed that, following the heated arguments with their spouses, the participants who reported a history of depression all had higher levels of insulin and triglycerides. Besides, they had trouble burning the calories in their last meal.
More precisely, these folks all ended up burning an average 118 fewer calories than the volunteers who didn't report any depressive symptoms at the beginning of the investigation.
It is understood that, over the course of a year, this drop in energy expenditure can translate into a weight gain of up to 12 pounds (approximately 5.4 kilograms).
“Insulin stimulates food intake and the accumulation of fat tissue in the abdomen, and adding that on top of the lower energy expenditure creates a higher likelihood for obesity,” specialist Martha Belury commented on the outcome of this series of experiments.
“But it doesn’t stop there: Elevated triglycerides lead to heart disease. Along with high insulin, elevated triglycerides indicate metabolism of sugars and fats is impaired. These are hallmarks of increased risk for heart disease and diabetes,” she added.
In light of these findings, the Ohio State University specialists recommend that efforts to tackle obesity also take into account how mental health can influence a person's physical wellbeing.
As researcher Jam Kiecolt-Glaser put it, “These findings not only identify how chronic stressors can lead to obesity, but also point to how important it is to treat mood disorders.”