The mental health of people in the UK and worldwide is getting worse. Common conditions like depression and anxiety have risen by more than 20 per cent since the 1990s. Although much of the blame in recent years has been directed at social media platforms (perhaps not unreasonably), we may have overlooked another significant factor: our physical health.
Dopamine is probably one of the most misunderstood chemicals in the brain
Mental health is one of the few areas of medicine that has been bucking an otherwise positive trend of generally reduced illness and mortality. Another? Metabolic disease, in particular obesity and type-2 diabetes, which have risen more or less in tandem with mental health problems over the last 30 years.
Neuroscientists like myself are now beginning to ask whether these trends are connected: could the rise in metabolic disease be influencing, even causing, the increase in mental health problems like depression?
The epidemiological evidence is substantial.
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