Mind-Body Approach to Depression

Review by Dr. Nasha Winters

Depression: The Mind-Body, Diet and Lifestyle Connection by Ray Griffiths.

Clink Street Publishing, London, UK

ISBN 1912850982, 9781912850983; c. 2019; 150 pp; $8.99.

After reading and reviewing Ray Griffiths’ book, Mitochondria and Health and Disease, a few months back for Townsend Letter, I welcomed another opportunity to read the latest by this articulate author who can deliver up-to-date scientifically referenced material in an enjoyable and digestible fashion.

For the past three years and the first time in history, the United States is seeing a dip in survival rates, thanks to the exponential rise in opiate overdoses and suicides.¹ It is a call to action to ask WHY and to bring hope and support to the front lines and restore our rightful place at the table to enjoy improved longevity.

Ray Griffiths new book, Depression: The Mind-Body, Diet and Lifestyle Connection, offers light in the midst of the darkness by exploring a whole-body approach to mental health and calling out the triggers contributing to the rise in devastation and fall in both quality and quantity of life in the Western world.

Triggers such as stress, nutritional deficits, dietary indiscretions (namely sugar addiction), lack of exercise and time in nature, loss of community and purpose are discussed in detail with excellent references to lead the charge.

His take-home message is suggesting the wellbeing of our mental state depends on our brain’s ability to adapt, grow, repair, and survive the threats of modern life. He places emphasis on the brain’s central headquarters, the hippocampus, a small organ located in the temporal lobes of the brain, associated with mental health, memory, and emotion and how the structural integrity or that organ shrinks under duress and leads to depression and anxiety.

Roy discusses what activates that shrinkage, such as imbalances in the HPA axis (impact of stress), gut/brain axis (how the microbiome directs the show), hormonal influences (2:1 ratio of women to men experience depression), insulin resistance (depression and Alzheimer’s risk go hand in hand and directly relate to blood sugar imbalance), inflammation (from traumatic injury, but also traumatic experiences, toxicants, infections, wrongful diet, poor sleep), environmental and social enrichment (impact of nature deficit and isolation), to name a few.

When functioning properly, our hippocampus is regenerating about 700 new cells per day. When damaged, malnourished, overwhelmed, or lacking in the proteins (BDNF and NGF) that stimulate neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, this important mood-stabilizing and adaptation-promoting organ shrinks and withdraws from its duties, leaving us lacking resilience, insight, hope, and motivation.

There were many pearls I took away from this simple but well-written book:

• All chronic illness, including diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, obesity and cancer are strongly associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety—running parallel to, and not because of, these conditions.

• Adverse Childhood Events (ACE) shrinks our hippocampus and lack of connection with mother at a young age increases our susceptibility to depression and leaves us less prepared to deal with the experiences of life.

• Our hippocampus is “fertilized” and nourished by neurotrophin proteins, BDNF and NGF, which are the bridge builders, connecting our experiences to biological actions.

• Our neurotrophins depend on our diet, nutrition, exercise, and emotional fulfillment to do their job.

• Ray does a great job showing the reader what suppresses and boosts our neurotrophins and some basic dietary, nutrient, and lifestyle hacks that will increase our neuroplasticity and neuroregeneration to enhance our mental resilience and overall longevity.

• Addictions are a misplaced search for spirit (and trying to compensate a starving brain). Meditation, mindfulness, and spiritual practice enhance BDNF and our ability to emotionally cope.

• Community and finding joy, passion, purpose, and gratitude build the neurotrophins.

• Isolation, solitary confinement, and the era of technology over social interaction directly lower NGF and lead to aggressive and psychotic behavior.

I would have liked to see information on the impact of EMFs and screen time, specifically blue light and its impact on microglial immune and inflammatory triggers to the brain, as well as the increase in glucose uptake to the brain from technologies that further exacerbates the dopamine and insulin balance, leading to hippocampus shrinkage.

I also would have liked to see some discussion on impact of intermittent fasting on raising BDNF levels and the fact we are so enamored with the Mediterranean diet (MD) as the best diet for depression, when much of the reason the MD has been successful is because of the region’s spiritual practice that includes upwards of 200 fasting days per year. That, along with community and closer connection to nature and circadian rhythms, are becoming more evident as the real impact, along with the food choices, influencing our overall wellbeing today.

Perhaps the final two points I made warrant another book (hint, hint!) though I very much appreciate the thorough assessment and solution that Ray offers in these pages. I suggest you grab a copy of his book, a cup of organic coffee or tea, a handful of blueberries and walnuts, and find a sunny spot somewhere out in nature to literally expand your mind (specifically, the hippocampus), flood your brain cells with BDNF, and get a rush of connection, gratitude, and joy that will lift your spirits and rewire your brain.

Reference

1. Haskins J. Suicide, opioids tied to ongoing fall in US life expectancy: Third year of drop. The Nation’s Health. February/March 2019;49(1):1-10.