Lifestyle Changes Alter Brain Chemical to Reduce Anxiety

Researchers have targeted a brain chemical that makes people more prone to anxiety. The study sheds new light on how lifestyle changes can help overcome anxiety and depression by altering the important chemical involved in development.
The study, conducted on animals, shows that fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), is an important chemical in brain development. Low levels are associated with a predisposition for anxiety. The study suggests that changing behavior, by enriching one’s environment, can alter FGF2 and reduce anxiety.
For the study, rats that were bred for high anxiety were given a series of new toys. They subsequently were found to have higher levels of FGF2, reducing anxiety behaviors. The results are akin to humans making lifestyle changes that raise FGF2 to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Past studies have shown that depression is associated with low levels of the chemical, but researchers never understood whether depression or the chemical imbalance came first.
Javier Perez, PhD, also at the University of Michigan led the study. According to Perez, "We have discovered that FGF2 has two important new roles: it's a genetic vulnerability factor for anxiety and a mediator for how the environment affects different individuals. This is surprising, as FGF2 and related molecules are known primarily for organizing the brain during development and repairing it after injury." Changing ones environment through lifestyle modification could essentially repair the brain to reduce anxiety in susceptible individuals.
The study authors believe FGF2 may promote survival of new cells that develop in the hippocampus of the brain. Previous studies show that new brain cells die in the presence of depression. The formation of new brain cells is known as neurogenesis. When the researchers compared brain cells in rats bred for high anxiety, to those bred for low anxiety, they found that they formed the same number of hippocampal brain cells. However, the brain cells did not survive in rats bred for anxiety. Enriching the rat’s environment resulted in restoration of the brain cells, as did treatment with FGF2. The study findings suggest that lifestyle changes, or treatment with FGF2 may both be effective treatments for anxiety and depression.
Lifestyle changes and treatment with FGF2 may replace traditional pharmaceuticals that include sedation for anxiety treatment. According to neurogenesis expert Pier Vincenzo Piazza, MD, PhD, Director of the Neurocentre Magendie, lifestyle changes, and/or treatment of depression with FGF2 would “instead fight the real cause” of depression.

Depression Is Significant Cause Of Early Retirement

Men in late middle age with depressive symptoms are more likely to leave the labor force than men without such symptoms are, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania.
Retirement-age women, though they have a greater tendency to work part time or transition to part-time status, are more likely to opt out completely if they suffer even mild, or sub-threshold, symptoms of depression.
Almost one in 10 adults in the labor force suffers a bout of major depression in a 12-month period.
“In light of our findings, it is of concern that major depression and depressive symptoms are often unrecognized and under-treated, said lead researcher Jalpa Doshi, Ph.D.
The study will appear in the journal Health Services Research and will be available online in mid-September.
Doshi, a research assistant professor of medicine, and her colleagues looked at data from the Health and Retirement Study, a long-term study covering 48 states. The study followed nearly 3,000 adults between the ages of 53 and 58 every two years between 1994 and 2002 for mental health and labor-force status changes.
The researchers did not examine whether retirement was voluntary or involuntary.
An earlier study of Finnish workers, in a country with a more stable post-retirement safety net system, also showed depression to be a predictor of early retirement. Doshi said it is surprising that this holds true in the United States, where there is increasingly less guarantee of post-retirement income and health care to early retirees. “The burden presented by depression, she said, “may be higher than we thought.
“I believe any infirmity might make you think of retiring, said Eric Kingson, Ph.D., professor of social work and public administration at Syracuse University. The American attitude toward retirement is schizophrenic, Kingson said. “Sometimes, we encourage people to leave work early. To some extent, the pension system does that. When there need to be layoffs, the older people are laid off, but in areas with labor shortages, companies try to retain the workforce.
“Health plans need better mental health options, Kingson said. However, many insurance plans are cutting, not adding, benefits.
“If people retire early as a result of depression, in addition to the financial hardship resulting from loss of income, it potentially may have a far-reaching detrimental effect on the health of older workers unable to obtain health insurance, Doshi said. There could be a downward health trajectory.