People with depression or anxiety may experience weight gain or weight loss due to their condition or the medications that treat them. Depression and anxiety can both be associated with overeating, poor food choices, and a more sedentary lifestyle. Over time, weight gain may eventually lead to obesity.About 43 percentTrusted Source of adults with depression are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
And they say adults who’ve been diagnosed with depression are more likelyTrusted Source to be overweight than those who haven’t. Likewise, children who are depressed often have a higher BMI than children who aren’t.
In one 2002 studyTrusted Source, they found that children who were depressed were more likelyTrusted Source to become obese by the time researchers’ followed up one year later.
Obesity is often associated with emotional issues, such as sadness, anxiety, and depression. One 2010 studyTrusted Source found that people who were obese had a 55 percentTrusted,
Source greater risk for developing depression over the course of their life than people who weren’t obese. Obesity and other weight conditions can also lead to physical health problems. This includes:
- joint pain
- diabetes
- hypertension
These conditions are also risk factors for depression.
