I listened to an excellent podcast episode by Dr. Rhonda Patrick and Dr. Ashley Mason on drug-free treatment approaches to treating depression, insomnia, and overeating (1).
Keep in mind that if you have "depression", it doesn't mean that you feel badly after work one night or even a week. If I simplify the pathological condition called "Major Depressive Disorder", you're feeling bad all the time for a longer period of time.
In this blog post, I'll mainly talk about the first benefit - drug-free approaches to counter depression. Specifically, Dr. Ashley Mason talked about "Whole-Body Hyperthermia" (WBH) or creating "hyperthermia" (overheating) in the entire human body. Saunas, and specifically infrared saunas, are an excellent means to accomplish that goal, and hence, I decided to dig a little deeper into the topic.
Also, let me explain a bit about my methodology in this blog post:
Rather than provide my own thoughts, which I do in many blog posts on this website, I've instead opted to list the lessons I got from listening to this amazing podcast.
- Firstly, what I hope to accomplish with this work is to simplify some of the scientific jargon for the non-expert reader. The podcast and theory behind it are pretty complex so I'd like to simplify how it's communicated.
- Secondly, I also try to provide people who'd rather read than listen to content with a second alternative in the written form.
- Thirdly, regarding some parts of the argument I've added my own interpretation on the topic. I've added some of my suggestions at the end of this blog post.
Let's begin with the beginning - the theory behind the podcast episode:
Dr. Ashley Mason's On Why Whole-Body Hyperthermia Implies Infrared Sauna Depression Benefits
Below I've listed several lessons from listening to the Dr. Ashley Mason podcast episode, where she was interviewed on the "Found My Fitness" podcast #67 by Dr. Patrick.
Before digging deeper into the theory, let's consider some definitions. Whole Body Hyperthermia (WBH) is different from sauna use in one regard, in that the former uses very intense heat to exhaustion, while the latter may not necessarily do so.
You can use an infrared sauna in a very relaxing way, such as with 15 minutes sessions alternated with cold showering that prevents you from truly overheating. With WBH, you won't get the spa-like relaxing feeling of alternating the sauna with some cold showers, but instead, inducing fatigue and moving towards your absolute maximum heat tolerance is the goal.
As an analogy, you could think about the difference between walking and an intense workout. The former is relaxing, the latter is not. And while sauna use can be relaxing, when you're engaging in WBH you'll experience some uncomfortable sensations and feelings!
Also, in studies with WBH the parameters are usually very well controlled.
Now I've got the definition of WBH out of the way, I'll first start by explaining the underlying theory that Dr. Mason works with. Next up, I explain more about the lessons learned from the podcast. Here's the first thing I learned about the theory:
Lesson 1: Depression Can Potentially Be Understood Through The "Pathogen Host Defence Theory Of Depression"
I'm pretty sure you think the "pathogen-host defence theory of depression" sounds pretty complicated (2; 3; 4; 5)!
Nothing could be further from the truth, however:
From an evolutionary perspective, depression is really strange! Let me explain:
Assuming that all species reproduce, if possible, to ensure the survival of a species, depression is really weird. Why? Well, if you were a depressed ancestor you weren't really in the mood to gather food or hunt for it, let alone reproduce.
in such a case, the mystery is thus to explain why depression exists from an evolutionary perspective because it directly counters the goal of reproduction that ensures the survival of the species. And yet, a high number of genetic mutations that favour depression exist. The question then becomes, "why have depressed people reproduced?"
The explanation of the "pathogen host defence theory of depression" begins by stating that inflammation, the human immune response, and depression are all interrelated.
Research shows those concepts are indeed interrelated: some types of depression are linked to higher inflammation (6; 7; 8). Also, in both high inflammation (assuming there is such a monolithic thing) and in a state of depression, conserving energy is a major behaviour.
Therefore, the evolutionary benefit of depression linked with high inflammatory states is that the conservation of energy allows you to better deal with the presence of pathogens.
In certain instances, your ancestors might have lived in a jungle where there's a ton more exposure to pathogens than in clean modern environments. The case can be made that you and I are currently not exposed to pathogens the way our ancestors used to be (9; 10; 11).
Nevertheless, when such pathogens were present in the past, the inflammatory response - mediated by "cytokines" - allowed your immune system to work more optimally. "Cytokines" are signalling substances in your immune system, whereby different parts of your immune system can communicate with each other.
The combination of depression and energy conservation thus allowed some of your ancestors to survive because they were better able to deal with pathogens while others didn't.
But how do you and I use that fact? Here comes the next lesson: