Question: I would like to know if environmental factors or genetic factors are of more influnce to developing depression and anxiety and other things like that? Like, will doing exercise and eating well reduce your chances of developing depression/anxiety or is it a hereditary condition?

It is a mixture of both genetics and environment. So someone might have a genetic risk of getting depression, but then they might need some environmental factor to trigger it.

Doing exercise can be equivalent to having a mild anti-depressant, so it’s certainly very helpful for people who suffer from depression or anxiety, and similarly eating well so that your levels of chemicals in the brain are balanced it also important.

If you know you have a genetic likelihood of it (for example if your family members have depression or anxiety), then doing exercise can help keep it away, especially if you know you’e going to be stressed or upset about something. 🙂