Depression And Higher Body Temperature Are Linked, Confirms Study

Enhancing the treatment and prevention of depression requires a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between the brain and body where it manifests. Several studies have previously suggested links between depressive symptoms and body temperature, but the credibility of these findings was hindered by their limited sample sizes.

Now, a team of researchers led by experts from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has conducted a study and found that people with depression have higher body temperatures, suggesting there could be a mental health benefit to lowering the temperatures of those with the disorder.

Published in Scientific Reports, the study, involving over 20,000 participants worldwide, investigated the connection between depression and elevated body temperature. It remains unclear whether depression contributes to higher body temperature or if increased temperature leads to depression. The study, conducted over seven months starting in early 2020 with data from 106 countries, revealed a correlation between higher depression symptom severity and elevated body temperatures. While less temperature fluctuation throughout the day showed a trend toward higher depression scores, its significance wasn't conclusively established. The research prompts further exploration into the complex relationship between body temperature and depression.

The findings shed light on how a novel depression treatment method might work, said Ashley Mason, PhD, the study's lead author and associate professor of psychiatry at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. A small body of existing, causal studies has found that using hot tubs or saunas can reduce depression, possibly by triggering the body to self-cool, for example, through sweating.

"Ironically, heating people up can actually lead to rebound body temperature lowering that lasts longer than simply cooling people down directly, as through an ice bath," said Mason, who is also a clinical psychologist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health. "What if we can track the body temperature of people with depression to time heat-based treatments well?"

"To our knowledge, this is the largest study to date to examine the association between body temperature-assessed using both self-report methods and wearable sensors-and depressive symptoms in a geographically broad sample," added Mason. "Given the climbing rates of depression in the United States, we're excited by the possibilities of a new avenue for treatment."