Quality of Life can be Improved Dramatically in People Suffering from Depression and its Associated Sarcopenia

noshia Afzal¹, Umar Farooque^2*, Abubakar Tauseef³, Sujan Poudel⁴

¹Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, United States

²Department of Neurology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.

³Department of Internal Medicine, Creighton University, Omaha, United States

⁴Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical College, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

^*Corresponding author: Umar Farooque, Department of Neurology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan

Received: 08 September 2020; Accepted: 16 September 2020; Published: 05 October 2020

Dear editor, we would like to highlight the importance of aerobics and physical activity throughout the stages of life to prevent the development of depression associated sarcopenia in old age. We would like to add some recommendations since depression is becoming more and more prevalent in our society and if not addressed timely and properly, we will see some disastrous consequences soon. The most important issue to be addressed in depression is the associated lack of physical activity which impacts heavily upon the overall mortality, morbidity, and quality of life. Depression is associated with multimorbidity and premature mortality as well as cardiac and metabolic disorders [1-3]. Not only major depression is associated with low quality of life but it also leads to loss of muscle mass as well as skeletal muscle function [4]. This article also mentions how aerobic exercises and physical expenditure leads to an overall enhanced mental as well as physical health and leads to an obvious reduction in deaths associated with cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic causes [5-7].

Sarcopenia is defined as the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. It is a condition characterized by progressive as well as the generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength and it is associated with a physical disability, poor quality of life, and eventually death [8].

Loss of muscle mass and an increase in adipose tissue leads to certain imbalances in the metabolism of the body thus increasing the risk of cardiac as well as cerebral events associated with high fat, low protein, low bone mass, high cortisol levels, and pro-inflammatory cytokines [9]. Reduced muscle mass further impairs the mobility of patients suffering from depression and thus a vicious cycle begins which leads to further depression and increases the risk of fracture, disability leading to the bed-bound stage for many months, thus increasing morbidity and mortality. It is therefore vital for us to address this issue and deliver to society the importance of aerobic exercises as well as physical activities which in one way or another will help our elderly in the future by enhancing their immunity as well as strength of muscles, decreasing the risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures which in most cases leads to stress and depression over time. We should build up programs in elderly care centers as well as clinics to help them start and then stick to the aerobics whenever and wherever possible. In this way, all of us should play some role in encouraging our elderly population to indulge in some kind of aerobic exercise so that we can decrease the burden on health care and thus the resources of society can better be saved for other lethal diseases like cancer. In the end, we just want to emphasize that it's our youth who have to develop this habit of leaving a sedentary lifestyle and acquire a physically active way of life so that they are less prone to develop all the above-mentioned issues as they age.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

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