In recent years, the mental health of the French has been undermined, particularly due to the Covid 19 pandemic. According to a Public Health France barometer published in early 2024, suicidal thoughts have increased “more than twice” since 2014. among 18-24 year olds. Among mental health disorders, we find depression which affects 3.8% of the world population according to the World Health Organization (WHO). She “characterized by the presence of depressed mood or a lasting loss of the ability to experience pleasure or interest.”
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, US, have noted an intriguing commonality among people suffering from depression. Indeed, they would have a higher body temperature, which suggests that there could be a mental health benefit to lowering the temperature of people with this disorder. Their results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Depressed people have higher body temperature
To arrive at these results, the specialists based themselves on data from the TemPredict study which continuously collects physiological parameters (for example, body temperature) using a portable device. In total, more than 20,000 participants spread across 107 countries took part in the study. Additionally, volunteers were required to report their body temperature daily and complete monthly surveys to assess their mental health.
The researchers noticed “that as the severity of depression symptoms increased, participants had higher body temperatures.” Additionally, the authors noticed that in people with the highest depression scores, body temperature fluctuated little and remained the highest. However, several gray areas remain regarding the mechanism observed by experts. In fact, the latter cannot say whether depression increases body temperature or whether a higher temperature is a cause of depression.
Depression: fluctuating body temperature could help fight against
According to the authors, these results confirm previous studies and suggest new avenues for therapy. As the authors point out, previous work, carried out on a smaller panel, showed that “that using jacuzzis or saunas can reduce depression”, experts believe that this may be by triggering the body’s self-cooling, for example through sweating.
Also, in a press release, Ashley Mason, associate professor of psychiatry at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences adds that“ironically, warming people can actually cause a drop in body temperature that lasts longer than just cooling people directly, such as through an ice bath.” However, the researchers specify that new studies must be carried out.
If you are in psychological distress, you can call SOS Suicide Phénix at 01.40.44.46.45
Sources:
- Elevated body temperature is associated with depressive symptoms: results from the TemPredict Study – Scientific Reports
- Are body temperature and depression linked? New study says, yes – University of California, San Francisco (press release)
- Depression – World Health Organization (WHO)