How passive smoke can affect your mood

In this Saturday, March 2, 2013 photo, a woman smokes a cigarette at her home in Hayneville, Ala. A new study released on Monday, March 4, 2013 offers more compelling evidence that life expectancy for some U.S. women is actually falling. A new study found that over 10 years, death rates for women under age 75 increased in nearly half of U.S. counties - many of them rural and in the South and West. There was no such trend among men. Some leading theories blame higher smoking rates and higher unemployment, but several experts said they simply don't know. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

In this Saturday, March 2, 2013 photo, a woman smokes a cigarette at her home in Hayneville, Ala. A new study released on Monday, March 4, 2013 offers more compelling evidence that life expectancy for some U.S. women is actually falling. A new study found that over 10 years, death rates for women under age 75 increased in nearly half of U.S. counties - many of them rural and in the South and West. There was no such trend among men. Some leading theories blame higher smoking rates and higher unemployment, but several experts said they simply don't know. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Published Oct 9, 2015

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London - Could having a partner who smokes make you depressed?

A survey of more than 1 000 non-smoking, middle-aged women suggested that those who were exposed to second-hand smoke had more than double the risk of having depression than those who were not, reports the journal Psychiatry Research.

Researchers at Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, China, also found that the more regular the exposure to secondhand smoke, the worse the women’s symptoms were.

One theory is that nicotine in the exhaled smoke changes the balance of various brain chemicals, including serotonin and norepinephrine, which control mood.

Smokers have previously been shown to be more likely to be depressed, too.

Daily Mail

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