Pollen and Depression

Last week was not a good one for my state of mind; I noticed it and my wife told me.  The reason was simple, the pollen level was high.

Now this, at first glance may not seem to be a very obvious connection but, for me, it is.  When the pollen level is high my chest tightens up because of my asthma and this results in a drop in the oxygen level in my blood.  It is this that causes me a problem because oxygen is the fuel that powers the brain and blood is the delivery system.  Less oxygen in the blood slows my brain down and makes it harder for me to think clearly.  Up to this point what I have described is normal for a lot of people with pollen triggered asthma but for me there is an added complication - I am battling with depression.

Most of the time I do fairly well in this battle but it takes more of my mental effort than I realise.  Anything that makes thinking harder is a problem and in this case just a high pollen level is enough to make me slip back.  This isn't an insurmountable problem but it is just one more thing that I have to be aware of as I battle with my oddly wired brain.

One thing to be drawn from this is that my physical health affects my mental health and I am sure that this is true of a lot of other people. We are made to be complete beings and any imbalance in one part will affect the whole.