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Depression affects many men.
Although these men would often call it anxiety.
But there’s not much of a difference between the two.
Anxiety and depression are literally two sides of the same coin.
Today, we’ll talk about two ways to fix depression and anxiety without pills.
Managing anxiety and depression affects men and women in large numbers so help with stress and depression is a big deal.
They’re both caused by incorrect hormone levels in the brain.
One of the most depressing hormones is estrogen at high levels.
We always have estrogen.
But as we age, many men tend to have excessively high estrogen levels.
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And estrogen causes depressive symptoms, not just in men but also in women.
So researchers are always looking for new ways to treat anxiety and depression.
Today’s study looks at how estrogen works in the brain to create depression and anxiety symptoms.
Depression and anxiety work roughly like this:
Stress causes higher cortisol levels.
The cortisol ends up stimulating prolactin, estrogen, vasopressin, and then these hormones depress testosterone.
The estrogen is not opposed by enough testosterone anymore, and depression really sets in.
The good news is that the brain also has a way to stop depression and anxiety.
If oxytocin is stimulated, the symptoms can be resolved.
Oxytocin stops the depression and anxiety.
Early in this chain of events, if enough oxytocin present, it can stop depression and anxiety.
This is why when you’re living a high oxytocin lifestyle, you’re not subject to depression or anxiety the way other people are.
If you’ve ever wondered why some people don’t get depressed as easily as others, they probably hive higher oxytocin levels.
Oxytocin is increased by some pretty great things.
Oxytocin is one of depression’s natural cures.
It increases when you have a loved one, when you have a pet, when you spend time in nature.
Oxytocin is especially increased when you have a lot of sexual activity.
Getting plenty of naked contact with your partner, especially without frequent orgasm does wonders for oxytocin levels.
Essentially, the more sexual contact you have, even naked cuddling, the higher the oxytocin over time.
Especially if you have frequent sex that goes on for a long time, with maybe one or no ejaculations.
That is what raises oxytocin through the roof.
It will fix depression and even alcoholism or drug addiction in almost anybody.
And, just as mood lighting can affect a romantic encounter, lighting is another key to raising oxytocin.
You’ll see in this study that the right kind of light can really increase your oxytocin levels.
This study is very interesting because it’s a high-quality randomized controlled study.
Researchers divided the participants into different treatment groups.
Some groups got Prozac.
Other groups got bright light.
Other groups got light that wasn’t really very bright or effective, called Schama light.
In other groups, patients received combinations of other treatments.
And they kept track of all this as a double blind.
That means that neither the experimenting subjects or the researchers knew which person was getting what.
Studies like this are high-quality because they’re designed to avoid prejudice.
At the end, researchers tallied up the results to see what they could find.
The first interesting thing that they found was that Prozac was no better than a placebo.
As researchers note,
fluoxetine (Prozac(r) only) was not superior to placebo.
Believe it or not, this isn’t uncommon.
It is very rare for any test of a drug to actually test its effectiveness.
So this is very interesting that Prozac actually doesn’t work.
It doesn’t do the job it is designed for, but still has side effects… and it’s still prescribed frequently!
Amazing.
But there were good findings in this study as well.
Researchers found that the people who received the genuine bright light were a lot less depressed.
Bright light treatment, both as monotherapy [meaning used alone] and in combination with fluoxetine [Prozac(r)], was efficacious and well tolerated in the treatment of adults with nonseasonal depression.
So using light for a treatment worked whether the it was used alone, or if it was used along with the medication.
This is something you can do for yourself.
The light you want to use is red light.
Red light improves each cell’s metabolism.
And it’s easy on the eyes.
Red light is very prevalent in incandescent light, but not in fluorescent light.
I’m not talking about a lightbulb that’s painted red either.
The best kind of red light comes from very bright incandescent lights, such as 500 W, 130 V pool lamps.
Regular daily exposure to light will not only prevent depression but it will keep you healthier.
Especially if you can take your shirt off, and expose your chest at least to the light.
This is a great way how to make your anxiety go away.
What makes this study so important is that it demonstrates the truth of the matter.
It shows that light is a simple way to not just treat but actually PREVENT depression and anxiety.
And it doesn’t require a prescription for a medication that apparently didn’t do the trick.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163705000048
Efficacy of Bright Light Treatment, Fluoxetine, and the Combination in Patients With Nonseasonal Major Depressive Disorder
A Randomized Clinical Trial
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2470681