NBA player feels the effects of chronic depression.
When Milwaukee Bucks center Larry Sanders walked away from a $44 million contract (with a substantial buyout) in 2015, he knew it was time to face — and get treatment for — his chronic depression. This superathlete found that his depression was making his mind and body increasingly less courtready. He told reporters: “I’m trying to get to the root of a lot of issues. ... Without getting them corrected, I don’t think basketball is something I could do.”
Well, for the first time, research confirms what Sanders felt instinctively: Depression is more than a mental disorder. It raises bodywide levels of oxidative stress, and that affects all systems and organs. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Granada suggest that this may explain why folks who suffer from depression are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer, and die at an earlier age than folks without depression.
Clearly, this discovery changes how depression should be treated. Talk therapy and antidepressants help reduce symptoms and, according to the research, restore body levels of antiinflammatory substances such as zinc and uric acid, and reduce markers of oxidative stress. But you need to treat the body, not just the mind. That means adopting an anti- inflammatory lifestyle: at least 30 minutes (we like 60) of aerobic exercise five days a week, plus eliminating inflammationboosting trans and sat fats, processed grains and added sugars and syrups from your diet. That fullcourt press may just stop depression from benching you.
HPV vaccine breakthrough
Within six years of introducing the HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine, there was a 64 percent decrease in 4-valent HPV-type prevalence among females ages 14 to 19, and a 34 percent decrease among those ages 20 to 24 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Clearly, the HPV vaccine works, and as a result, we should see a major decrease in the incidence of cervical cancer, as well as cancers of the throat, anus and vagina that are triggered by HPV. Plus, the vaccine now is even more protective than earlier versions: It covers nine strains of HPV, as opposed to four.
This vaccine introduces a small dose of various deactivated strains of HPV to the immune system, which then produces antibodies designed to kill them off. Some time later, if a living infection of the same strain tries to invade your child’s body, the already-fired-up immune system is ready to crush it. While vaccines are not foolproof, parents would be foolish not to get this one for their daughters and sons. How often can you help protect your child from any form of cancer? Well, this is one sure way. And pretty soon it may be advocated for the 40-plus crowd, too.
Q: My aunt needs a total knee replacement, and her doctor told her that she should have bariatric surgery (she’s very overweight) before she has the knee surgery. I think it’s a good idea, but she’s angry about it. What can I tell her?
Adele C., Delphi, Indiana
A: She may be angry because knee pain and excess weight make it difficult for her to lose weight on her own and she simply wants the doc to make it all better. However, the less she weighs at the time of the operation, the better her recovery will be.
There’s a just-released study from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City that found obese people who had bariatric surgery before total knee replacement had a much, much higher quality of life for the rest of their lives than obese folks who had TKR without first undergoing bariatric surgery and losing weight. The researchers also found that weight-loss surgery followed by TKR (two years later) saved thousands of dollars in lifetime health care costs for both insurance companies and patients.
The downside? She will have to put up with her bad knee as she heals from the weight-loss surgery and then loses weight. Upside? Most likely, she’ll have a longer life, with more fun and less disability.
The bottom line: Every pound she loses takes 4 pounds of pressure off her sore knee(s), and that relieves pain big time. If it’s still possible for her to get around, and she’s not in too much pain, getting bariatric surgery before the TKR also may help her avoid obesityrelated complications of knee surgery, such as infection, problems with wound healing and cardiovascular issues. Also, when she finally has that new knee, weighing less will speed her recovery and help her get back into the swing of things.