Clinical psychologists have stated that overeating and oversleeping could be a sign of depression.
They explained these signs were the coping mechanism of people with depression, urging those with such experience and their relatives to seek prompt medical attention.
A study by Samira Rabiei et al, on the association between depression, obesity, and body composition in Iranian women, revealed that women with obesity had a high rate of severe depression.
According to the World Health Organisation, in 2017, over seven million Nigerians about 3.9 per cent of the population suffered from depression.
The Global Obesity Observatory reports that 9.9 per cent of Nigerian women were obese while 6.5 percent of males were obese.
The experts noted that the continuation of these symptoms could lead to suicidal ideation and obesity.
The United Nations Children’s Fund noted that being overweight in children could lead to an early onset of type-2 diabetes, stigmatisation, and depression, stating that it was a strong predictor of adult obesity, with serious health conditions.
A professor of Clinical Psychology at the Imo State University, Nkwam Uwaoma, stated that overeating might be a result of boredom in depressed people.
He clarified that it was a symptom of depression, adding that it could further lead to oversleeping and suicidal ideation.
“If a person gets to a level of overeating, the issues that would accompany it are, one, because the individual is eating as a result of boredom, there is the likelihood of being overweight and this has its repercussions.
“This may further lead to withdrawal from other activities, if the person is employed there would be absenteeism because the only interest the person had at that point was eating, sleeping, and waking up. This would cause hypersomnia which is oversleeping and the opposite is insomnia.
“The individual would be withdrawn from physical activity with a reluctance to do anything but sit, eat, and sleep,” Uwaoma said.
The don noted that such habits could lead to a breakdown of the body system, which could cause overweight, leading to improper functioning of the internal organs and blockage of the arteries and veins, among others.
The social and physical implications were the withdrawal from normal physical activities like exercises, leading to reduced psychomotor activities.
Uwaoma added, “There will be a pronounced retardation in psychomotor activities. On the job, the individual would begin to withdraw and indulge in oversleeping, followed by the abandonment of expected responsibilities, further causing guilt which is a killer disease.
“It is at this point that the individual may want to attempt suicide when he discovers that he is becoming useless and not doing what is expected of him.
“If guilt is not properly managed it would lead to hopelessness which would be associated with helplessness and when combined the individual would move to suicidal ideation. At the end of the day, there could be an increase in aggression.”
He stated that individuals already showing signs of depression should immediately seek and be offered help.
The don urged relatives of overeating individuals not to deny them more food but to take them to the hospital for psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy is the psychological treatment of handling depression.
On his part, a clinical psychologist at the Department of Behavioural Medicine, Lagos State University College of Medicine, Ikeja, Lagos, Professor Ayodele Coker, stated that those with depression may overeat as a coping mechanism or a symptom of depression.
He explained that the individual continued to eat for emotional relief, rather than eating when full.
The mental health clinician and researcher said, “Overeating can be a way to seek temporary comfort or distraction from negative emotions.
“However, one of the symptoms of clinical depression is either loss of appetite or increased appetite. Regarding increased appetite, it is the tendency for the individual experiencing depression to compulsively overeat more than what he needs without feeling satisfied.
“The affected person eats for emotional relief as opposed to eating because he is hungry. In the same vein, the affected individual may have difficulty to stop eating, continue to eat when he is full, feel sad when eating good food, and may even blame himself for overeating.”
On the link between depression and overeating, Coker mentioned that depression had been found to affect appetite-regulating hormones, leading to changes in hunger and cravings.
Individuals with depression were further known to eat comfort food, which is usually high in sugar and fat.
While these foods can temporarily boost their mood and stimulate the release of feel-good hormones, continuous consumption leads to obesity and other health conditions.
“Those with depression eat certain foods, especially the ones that are high in sugar and fat. They can temporarily boost mood and provide a sense of comfort because those foods can stimulate the release of feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin in the brain. Those who are experiencing depression may use overeating as a form of coping mechanism to deal with their low moods.
“Nonetheless, some people may have episodes of overeating that are characterized by episodes of excessive eating. The condition is called Binge Eating Disorder. The signs of BED include: eating large amounts of food very quickly, feeling that one cannot stop eating, even if one was feeling uncomfortably full, eating secretively to hide how much one was eating, binging for at least once a week for the past three months or longer and also feeling ashamed of oneself after overeating,” the clinical psychiatrist said.
The health implications of overeating in individuals with depression include weight gain, “they eventually become obese and obesity can lead to hypertension, heart conditions including stroke. Overeating can also lead to the development of diabetes especially when sugary foods and beverages are frequently consumed,” Coker said.
The don urged persons who overeat to seek medical evaluation to determine whether the cause of overeating was related to clinical depression or not.
Coker added, “In the case of depression, he will be referred to a mental health practitioner who will treat the condition with talk therapy and if need be add an antidepressant medication. The therapist will also teach the individual some stress management strategies, daily and weekly physical exercises, and how to eat healthily.”
