Obsession with cleanliness ‘could be making people
depressed’April 20th, 2011 - 2:55 pm ICT by ANI London, April 19
(ANI): Scientists have claimed that a growing obsession with
cleanliness could be making people depressed. They believe that
eliminating bacteria and viruses has actually made our immune
systems weaker, and this in turn has affected the functioning of
our brains. Scientists have long blamed our overly sterile
environments for increases in asthma and allergies. They say
some bacteria are necessary for bolstering our immune systems,
and without them our bodies over-react to dust and pollen,
resulting in an allergy. But now researchers believe that this
over-reaction may also impair the brain’s ability to produce
certain chemicals that make us happy - such as serotonin - and
this leads to depression. Researchers in Atlanta, Georgia, have
studied how this over-reaction, or inflammation, affects the
brain by recruiting a group of 27 patients taking drugs to treat
hepatitis C - which causes similar re