Posted by SLS on August 27, 2001, at 16:55:52
In reply to Re: Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) and Depression » phillybob, posted by sweetmarie on August 27, 2001, at 12:19:53
> I think that maintaining a healthy balance of hormones (male and female - but obviously more so with women) has a lot to do with healthy eating, i.e. not eating too much junk food, not drinking too much caffeine, not drinking (alcohol) excessively, not smoking etc. I can just about cut all those things out except smoking, which will be a major achievement if I ever do manage it. Anyway, yes basically, food plays a big part.
Anna - I think you might be exactly right.Just a thought or two...
We are consuming and being exposed to a whole lot of things that didn't figure into the equation as we were evolving as a species. Our systems might not be well equipped to maintain the physiological balance that we were programmed to have by nature while we are continually exposed to all of the substances contained in our processed foods. I think it might also be possible that the increased stresses of living in industrialized societies might also play a part, as stress has been shown to influence the functioning of the CNS and endocrine (hormone) systems.
I would love to know the rates of PMS throughout history. I would also like to know if PMS occurs to the same extent in other primates as well as any other animals with menstrual cycles (as opposed to estrous cycles). What are the rates and severity of PMS in aboriginal populations? It is difficult to imagine that nature built such a significantly detrimental event to occur regularly. Unfortunately, evolution doesn't work with a plan in mind or directed towards a teleological order (I guess this is really a matter of opinion). If there are no forces at work deselecting women who suffer PMS for successful breeding, we might be stuck with it. (I fully and respectfully appreciate that "we" does not include "me"). After all, it doesn't seem that God was too concerned with making women suffer during child birth. But really - I think it might be important to study the epidemiology of PMS historically and demographically to determine if there are factors in our environment or way of life contributing to its phenomenology that can be isolated and rectified.
I guess all of this probably applies to depression in general.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:76433
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010822/msgs/76633.html