Ironically enough, there appears to be a substantiated link between being hot (literally speaking) and being blue (mentally speaking).
Depression rates are at an all-time high in the United States. In 2023, nearly 30% of all adults in America were expected to have experienced some level of depression, per a Gallup Panel survey conducted that same year.
The results, which were compiled between February 21st and 28th of 2023 canvassed 5,167 U.S. adults, representing a probability-based panel of about 100,000 adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Respondents were asked simply, “Has a doctor or nurse ever told you that you have depression?” and “Do you currently have or are you currently being treated for depression?”
The data points were fairly shocking, with nearly 1,500 of the participants saying they had experienced some level of depression that year; moreover, the Gallup Panel survey also found that rates of lifetime depression had increased — to 17.8%, up from 13% observed in 2020 — in tandem with people experiencing current depression symptoms.
Depression, too, is comorbid with other mental health issues, like anxiety. For years, and decades really, mental health professionals have purported that there are physiological changes in the body when someone enters a depressive state.
Now, there’s concrete evidence of just that after the University of California, San Francisco released a finding that depressed people do have warmer body temperatures than those not experiencing depressive symptoms.
The study, published today in Scientific Reports, doesn’t indicate whether depression raises body temperature or a higher temperature causes depression. It’s also unknown whether the higher body temperature observed in people with depression reflects a decreased ability to self-cool, increased generation of heat from metabolic processes, or a combination of both.
What if we can track the body temperature of people with depression to time heat-based treatments well?”
According to the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, participating UCSF researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 international participants who wore a device that measures body temperature; they also self-reported their body temperatures and depression symptoms daily.
After the seven-month study, which began in early 2020 and included data from 106 countries, the result shows that people experiencing depressive episodes and symptoms tended to have higher body temperatures, existing in tandem with their higher depression scores.
The study’s findings also support conclusions amassed in more “causal studies” that found soaking in hot tubs or stepping inside saunas can reduce depression, the unproven theory here being that exposure to these temperatures triggers the body to self-cool, for example, through sweating.
“Ironically, heating people actually can lead to rebound body temperature lowering that lasts longer than simply cooling people down directly, as through an ice bath,” said Ph.D. Ashely Mason, who is also a clinical psychologist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health, in a press release about the publishing. “What if we can track the body temperature of people with depression to time heat-based treatments well?”
Mind you, UCSF research noted that this study neither purports that depression activates higher body temperatures nor that higher body temperatures cause depression; it’s merely an aggregated observation that the two — depressive symptoms and elevated body temperatures — seem to have a connection. Nevertheless, the finding offers a promising insight into the potential for novel treatments for mental illness.
“To our knowledge, this is the largest study to date to examine the association between body temperature – assessed using both self-report methods and wearable sensors – and depressive symptoms in a geographically broad sample,” added Mason. “Given the climbing rates of depression in the United States, we’re excited by the possibilities of a new avenue for treatment.”
So… next time you’re feeling a lil’ blue and just “meh” — very understandable, btw, given the current state of the world — taking a hot shower or using a steam room might help you sweat and tell your body to cool off, elevating your mood all the while.
Feature image: Courtesy of UCSF
[…] delving deeper into this connection, Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) It studied data from 20,880 people over seven months and found that people with depression tend to […]
[…] delving deeper into this connection, scientists from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) studied data from 20,880 people for seven months and found that those with depression often have […]