What is the true cause of childhood depression?

Yesterday following the news on TV, I knew about a boy of 18 years old threw himself from his bedroom window, now this terrible news beyond provoking a deep pain for a broken young life, shocked me when I knew that the reason was the: “depression”.

The boy was isolated from the external world, why mocked from his friends, because his chubby look, provoking in him a deep sense of shame towards his classmates.

The victim was of male sex and seems that in the last years it's increasing the number of persons of such sex that has depression troubles, when instead a study leaded in Finland on a sample of persons women with humor depression in childhood and adolescence has shown a high risk developing overweight and obesity equal to 11 times the risk of who is not depressed.

Other studies have evidenced the presence at the same time of humor's depression and obesity in the female population observing that the obese women are tendentially more depressed then the normal weight women and the overweight or normal weight men.

The last worrisome data, demonstrates that childhood depression is not anymore prerogative all female.

An effective treatment to defeat this disease must consider both disturbs using a therapeutic strategy able to face at the same time the depression and the obesity.

The depression is caused also from the early puberty that beyond submitting the girls to a physical transformation and sexual specific characteristics, suffering the hormonal changes that affecting the cerebral functions, so influencing their psychological condition.

The girls don't accept the physical changes provoked from the puberty, suffering for the weight increase and for the image loss skinny and long-limbed of the prepuberal period idealized from the fashion.

Triggering causes:

• genetic factors (hereditariness);


• alcoholism or drug abuse of the parents;


• maternal depression (can increase the risk of the onset of disturbs depressed);


• quality of the familiar relationships.
  

Life events:

1. loss of a parent;


2. divorce of the parents;


3. sexual violence and physical ill-treatments, according to the data for a great association of american psychologists the 37% of women have suffered violence before the age of 21 years;


4. loss of an affective tie;


5. study failures;


6. loneliness and low self-esteem.
   

This condition is found in adolescents with difficult familiar situation, parents alcoholic or drug addict or in adolescents who have suffered sexual abuses.

It's my firm belief that for dealing this type of disease, the only true effective medicine for the cure, remains always the closeness and the affects of the parents who have the duty and the hard task, but not impossible, decoding the first alarm bells that can lead the sons towards the tunnel of depression.

Most probably the keyword curing this disease is: “dialogue”.
Having a dialogue with the own sons it doesn't means only to speak but also to be able to listen, using the communication like a vehicle of outlet of all fears and the anxieties that our boys today have, but that they keep secretly for them, since in this our society where all is in frenetic movement we don't have more time to stop and to pick the true meaning of our existence, which gives a healthy value to our life: “our sons”.

Often I ask myself: “How it's possible to barter the interior peacefulness or the smile of our sons with one fleeting-life?”. Instantly, I feel a sense of liberation and gratification in answering myself: “material goods are lost, while the higher affect remain”.

“Don't close the stable door after the horse has bolted”.

Diabetes + Obesity= Diabesity

It's well-known since a long time that the obesity and the overweight are diseases that cause the type 2 diabetes, in fact the cases of type 2 diabetes are increased with the increment of the obesity and of the overweight and for that the UE (European Union) has coined a new word to describe the straight relation between two diseases: “diabesity”.

The american scientist J. Freidman (molecular geneticist) has discovered a hormone – the leptina – which, produced from adipose tissue, it would pass to the brain the hunger sensation and the gene's mutation of the obesity would provoke an insatiable hunger carrying to the overweight.

So, the obesity is not caused only from our life style and the unhealthy eating habits, but also from our genes.

The obesity does not depend on the amount of the weight of the body but the amount of the fat of the body and specifically from the adipose tissue.

The recent accomplished studies revealed that the obese children for the excessive fat storage in the abdominal area have a reduction of insulin efficiency which the body needs to convert the glucose in energy, with the result that the pancreas works producing insulin more and more and at the end it can be exhausted causing the diabetes a disease that according to the expectations will reach epidemic proportions.

This shows that there's a close tie between the two diseases that goes of equal step, in fact the 80% of the diabetics are overweight, the factors that are in common the obesity with the type 2 diabetes are:

• sedentary life;


• abundant food choice;


• unhealthy eating habits.
  

The diabetes can cause cardiovascular troubles as:

1. heart attack;


2. ictus;


3. renal insufficiency;


4. arteriopathy:


5. infections.

The bad news:

there's no way to healing from diabetes.
But the cures of this disease in last years are much improved because it's understood that is better to act from the first phase reducing the damages.

If before it was aimed to temporize now at the first signs begins an instant targeted cure, so acting first and also in customized way, considering more factors like pressure values or cholesterol levels with the purpose to choose the right cure.

The good news:

if the available therapies are followed up with constance it's possible leading a regular life.
The therapy's target is keeping the glycaemia to the “normal level”.

When to a child is diagnosed the type 2 diabetes he must be taught to monitor the disease, like measuring the glycaemia, the kind of physical activity and the diet that he must follow up.

If the child during the diagnosis is in good health, he'll be submitted to a program of physical exercises, but otherwise it'll be necessary giving up the insulin administration.

Keeping under control:

• the eyes;


• kidneys;


• the blood pressure.

The principal ingredients for the successful healthy life are: “WEIGHT FORM, BALANCED DIET AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY”.

Defeat childhood obesity

In the last few years childhood obesity has shown to be an issue of critical and increasing importance. A little boy is considered obese if he exceeds his ideal weight by 25%; the threshold is set at 30% for little girls. A child’s ideal weight can be easily calculated on the base of BMI (body massive index). If you want to check your child’s weight you can visit the website: http://www.cdc.gov/ and write "BMI" in the search engine.

Childhood obesity is frequently a consequence of an unbalanced nutrition, more and more based on fat and caloric food, lacking in proteins and nutritive value. Children often eat casually and prefer snacks and soft drinks. Parents tend to buy ready-to-eat products rather than cook themselves with natural ingredients. Purchase decisions in our consumer society are influenced by marketing and misleading advertising, which affect nutrition and deploy its biggest effects on youth.

We lead an inactive life, too. We ride our children at school by car and drive to the workplace, regardless the health effects of a long walk. Our kids like to spend most of their time watching TV, playing videogames and eating junk-food, rather than go out and play.

We all know that genetic factors "weight heavily" too: the risk of becoming obese is 40% higher among children who have one obese parent. For this reason it is extremely important to educate children to eat correctly since the first years of life. Parents bear the responsibility of orienting the eating habits in the family and making their children develop a personal relationship with food, eventually keeping them on a slimming diet.

In this society of the "bite and flee" is essential getting together for lunch of dinner time.
So the primary target of the parents is to trasmetting to the children the right way to follow a healthy diet.

The first step to defeat the obesity is to change slowly and gradually our life-style and explaining the benefits we obtains by loosing weight.
For example: getting more energy, social respect, major safety and self-esteem.

The parents must also know that the obesity brings:
PREMATURE CONSEQUENCES as:
RESPIRATORY: apnea, sleeplessness and difficulties paying attention to homeworks or studies.
TIREDNESS: articular disturbs. Leggs crossed as a bow or X. Flat feet reduced mobility, articular pain.
DIGESTING APPARATUS DISTURBS: calculus stones in gallbladder
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISEASE: children usually make fun of fat friends and discriminate them, because they are awkward and tend not to take part in sports. Consequently, obese children feel often ashamed, lose confidence and self-esteem and prefer to spend most of their time at home, watching TV, eating chips and taking soft drinks.

EARLY PUBERTY: the obesity can cause early puberty in girls as:
1) Downy.
2) Heavy sweating.
3)Breast growth.
In such cases the specialist (endoctrinologist) will suggest lab. exams like:
1) Pelvic Ecography.
2) Left wrist X ray.
3) Blood exam. Hormonal dosage for glycemia to diabetes control.
4) Measuring the height and the weight for early growing.

LATE CONSEQUENCES: a child who has been obese in the infancy has more chance becoming obese in the adult-age and be exposed to the nature's disturbs:
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: high blood pressure.
MUSCOLAR SKELETAR: premature arthrosis.
METABOLISM TROUBLES: diabets, hypercolesterol.
FOOD TROUBLES: gastroenteric cancer.

All these consequences must spur parents to improve and make children’s lifestyle more healthy. If necessary, a specialist could provide psychological support and help kids to start this slow and difficult way.

A winning move to achieve the best results in the struggle against childhood obesity is to integrate psychological training with recreational and cultural activities, such as acting in theatre, cinema or courses which stimulate kids to experience their manual skills, like painting on ceramics, clay modelling, carving in wood…

Every children have a passion or inner interest and this can be a great opportunity to help them to express their personality. Never forget to support and trust them during their difficult change of eating habits. Children have a surprising interior strength: if their skills are correctly addressed, they are able to make a healthy and happy future come true.

This is the point of view of a mother who loves her children immensely. In this technologically advanced society everything evolves swiftly and we can’t take our time to meditate about what is really important in our life. I am firmly convinced that we have the duty to teach health principles to our children and improve the world, by rediscovering our origins and taking care of nature. Why don’t we start by nutrition, teaching our children to eat natural and genuine food?

Take action for healthy nutrition!!!