Depressed? Then you need to chill—quite literally

Lowering your body temperature could ease bouts of depression, new research suggests.

People with depression tend to have a higher temperature, and one that doesn’t self-regulate and cool down, say researchers at the University of California at San Francisco.

They analysed data from more than 20,000 participants from 106 countries who wore a device that measured their temperature and reported daily on any depression symptoms.  As the severity of their depressive symptoms rose, so too did their temperature.

One remedy to depression could be to sit in a hot tub or sauna, and force the body to sweat, thus lowering its temperature.  “Ironically, heating people up can lead to a lowering of body temperature that lasts longer than simply cooling people down directly, such as with an ice bath,” said Ashley Mason, one of the researchers.

But they’re not sure which comes first.  Does a higher temperature trigger depression, or does a bout of depression raise our temperature?

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