Depression is a major health issue for breast cancer survivors, but regular exercise and drinking green tea may help.
Depression is a major health issue for breast cancer survivors, but regular exercise and drinking green tea may help.
To examine the association of lifestyle factors and supplement use with depression among breast cancer survivors, researches examined depression-related factors in 1,399 Chinese women who were 54 years old on average and treated for breast cancer in Shanghai, China between April 2002 and December 2006. Six months after their diagnosis, the researchers assessed the women's physical activity levels; food, tea, and alcohol consumption; cigarette smoking; and use of herbal medicines and supplements.
In depression evaluations at 18-months post-diagnosis, distinct benefits were noted among the women who reported some sort of exercise (62 percent of the total). At this time, exercisers were about 20 percent less likely to be either mildly or clinically depressed. Just 84 cases of mild or clinical depression were found among 437 vigorous exercisers (19.2 percent), but 161 cases among the 528 non-exercisers (30.5 percent). Moreover, compared with non-exercising women, the likelihood of depression was 28 percent lower among women who exercised more than 2 hours a week and 42 percent lower among those who increased their post-diagnosis exercise time.
Tea drinking also seemed to lessen depression. Compared with the 1,216 women who did not drink tea, among the 183 women who did, depression risk was about 36 percent lower. The vast majority of the tea drinkers - 90 percent - drank green tea.
The findings indicate that regular exercise and green tea consumption may play an important role in the prevention of depression among breast cancer survivors.
To examine the association of lifestyle factors and supplement use with depression among breast cancer survivors, researches examined depression-related factors in 1,399 Chinese women who were 54 years old on average and treated for breast cancer in Shanghai, China between April 2002 and December 2006. Six months after their diagnosis, the researchers assessed the women's physical activity levels; food, tea, and alcohol consumption; cigarette smoking; and use of herbal medicines and supplements.
In depression evaluations at 18-months post-diagnosis, distinct benefits were noted among the women who reported some sort of exercise (62 percent of the total). At this time, exercisers were about 20 percent less likely to be either mildly or clinically depressed. Just 84 cases of mild or clinical depression were found among 437 vigorous exercisers (19.2 percent), but 161 cases among the 528 non-exercisers (30.5 percent). Moreover, compared with non-exercising women, the likelihood of depression was 28 percent lower among women who exercised more than 2 hours a week and 42 percent lower among those who increased their post-diagnosis exercise time.
Tea drinking also seemed to lessen depression. Compared with the 1,216 women who did not drink tea, among the 183 women who did, depression risk was about 36 percent lower. The vast majority of the tea drinkers - 90 percent - drank green tea.
The findings indicate that regular exercise and green tea consumption may play an important role in the prevention of depression among breast cancer survivors.
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