The link between the human mind's health and the body's is widely known. Before I wrote about people have a strong sense of being treated unfairly had a 55% higher chance of suffering serious heart disease. In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that older adults with strong symptoms of depression were about 60% more likely to develop diabetes than happier peers. The association held up when risk factors for diabetes-smoking, excess weight, and lack of exercise-were taken into account. One theory: Depression leads to an elevation in the stress hormone cortisol, which increases blood glucose levels. The finding, along with evidence from about a dozen other studies, suggests that depression is an independent risk factor for diabetes.
Facing today's sky-high medical care cost, controlling self-emotion, being happy are indeed the cheapest medicine for some diseases.
