A new study has found a link between smoking tobacco and depression. A team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the University of Belgrade and the University of Pristina conducted the study.
For the study, 2,000 students were surveyed about how much they smoked and symptoms of depression. The team also took other contributing factors, like economic and socio-political backgrounds, into consideration. The rates of clinical depression were found to be much higher among students who smoke, according to the study's findings. Researchers found the rates were three times higher for smokers than non-smokers. In fact, 14 per cent of smokers suffered from depression compared to non-smokers. Meanwhile, only 4 per cent of non-smoking students suffered from depression. The study's findings were originally published in the journal PLOS ONE.
"Our study adds to the growing body of evidence that smoking and depression are closely linked," study author Hagai Levine told a news portal. Adding, "While it may be too early to say that smoking causes depression, tobacco does appear to have an adverse effect on our mental health."
Previous studies have also discovered a link between smoking and depression. Researchers at King’s College in London andCharles University in Prague conducted a study in 201, which found symptoms of depression improved after participants quit smoking.
Incorporating healthy habits into your lifestyle, like exercise, could help tackle depression. This is especially beneficial for people suffering from genetic depression, according to a study originally published in the journal Live Science. "Our findings strongly suggest that, when it comes to depression, genes are not destiny and that being physically active has the potential to neutralize the added risk of future episodes in individuals who are genetically vulnerable," study lead author Karmel Choi, postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, told a news portal.
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