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Weight and mental health: connected, but not simple
If you or someone else is in danger, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent mental-health help but it is not an emergency, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and select the mental-health option.
Weight can affect confidence, health, mobility and how we feel. Mental health can affect eating, activity, sleep and motivation. Neither direction is as simple as “lose weight and you'll be happy”.
Physical and mental health interact
Long-term physical health problems can contribute to or worsen depression for some people, and depression can make physical illness harder to manage. The relationship between weight and mental wellbeing is similarly individual and can involve stigma, body image, pain, sleep, activity, medication, eating behaviour and social factors.
Weight loss may remove a pressure — but it isn't a mental-health treatment
Some people feel substantially better as their physical health changes. Others lose weight and discover that anxiety, depression, loneliness or low self-worth did not disappear with it. Both experiences are valid.
Work both sides of the equation
Look after physical health because it matters. Look after mental health because it matters too. If you're struggling, don't postpone getting mental-health help until you've reached a target weight.
Keep going
Sources & further reading
- NHS — feelings and symptoms
- NHS Every Mind Matters — mental health issues
- NICE NG222 — depression in adults: treatment and management
Clinical information should be reviewed periodically against current NHS/NICE guidance. This content is educational and is not a diagnosis.