Alcohol, Tobacco and Social Media may Take a Toll on Your Mental Health

Unhealthy things like alcohol, tobacco, social media, junk food, and fossil fuels can negatively impact your mental health, increasing the risk of depression, anxiety and self-harm

Unhealthy things like alcohol, tobacco, social media, ultra-processed foods, and fossil fuels are linked to negative mental health outcomes such as depression, suicide, and self-harm, according to a new study published by Kate Dun-Campbell from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and colleagues.

The findings of the study are published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health ().

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Mental Health Problems are on the Rise

Globally, around one out of every eight people currently live with a mental health disorder. These disorders—including depression, suicide, anxiety, and other diseases and disorders—can have many underlying causes. Some of those causes could be related to commercial determinants of health—the ways in which commercial activities and commodities impact health and equity.

Unhealthy Commodities Associated with Depression, Suicide, Self-harm and Anxiety

Commercial determinants of health can be specifically unhealthy, such as alcohol or tobacco consumption, unhealthy food, and the use of fossil fuels. To further understand how these unhealthy commodities might impact mental health, the authors of this study performed an umbrella synthesis of 65 review studies examining connections between six specific commodities—tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, gambling, social media, and fossil fuels. The author also included studies looking at mental health impacts of fossil fuel use such as climate change and air pollution.

The umbrella review found evidence for links between depression and alcohol, tobacco, gambling, social media, ultra-processed foods and air pollution. Alcohol, tobacco, gambling, social media, climate change and air pollution were associated with suicide, and social media was also associated with self-harm. Climate change and air pollution were also linked to anxiety.

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The review brought together many different methodologies and measurements, and could not establish the underlying cause of the negative mental health outcomes. But the results indicate that unhealthy commodities should be considered when researchers attempt to understand and improve mental ill health.

The authors add: "Our review highlights that there is already compelling evidence of the negative impact of unhealthy products on mental health, despite key gaps in understanding the impact of broader commercial practices."

References:

Commercial determinants of mental ill health: An umbrella review - (https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0003605)

Source-Eurekalert

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