Depression, like dyslexia and “Yuppie flu”, is one of those fashionable diseases that have no symptoms except what the sufferer feels.

Now Professor Jerome Wakefield of New York University has said that sadness and depression are essential tools of evolution that prompt “sufferers” to become high achievers in life. He cites Winston Churchill, Beethoven, Abraham Lincoln and Isaac Newton as depressives who made good.

Wakefield says: “When you find something this deeply in us biologically, you presume it was selected because it had some advantage, otherwise we wouldn’t have been burdened with it. We’re fooling around with part of our biological makeup.”

He further believes that medical diagnoses of depression and its treatment with powerful drugs, like Prozac, is an unnecessary and dangerous fad. His book, The Loss of Sadness: How psychiatry transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorder states that sadness helps us learn from our mistakes. “I think one of the functions of intense negative emotions is to stop our normal functioning — to make us focus on something else for a while.”

So, if you are feeling down, consider that a deep part of yourself may be attempting to convey something to you.

At least try to find out what it is before heading for the medic’s surgery.

Dr Fredric Brandt — of Botox fame — says that just by eliminating sugar from your diet, you can look ten years younger in ten days.

And it isn’t just by losing weight : “In a nutshell, sugar hastens the degradation of elastin and collagen, both key skin proteins. In other words, it actively ages you,” he claims.

In a new book, 10 Minutes/Ten Years: Your Definitive Guide to a Better and Youthful Appearance, Brandt says he saw a remarkable change in his own skin when he dropped sugar from his diet. He lost 20lb in weight, but also gained a new “glow, radiance and elasticity” in his face. Within a year, his body had changed as well.

“I’m really lean and have the body of a teenager, although I’m in my 40s. … Believe me, it’s cheaper than a facelift.”

He continues, “The sugar triggers a process in the body called glycation. This is where the sugar molecules bind to your protein fibres — those wonderfully springy and resilient collagen and elastin fibres — which are the building blocks of skin.”

However, just by overheating starchy foods or grilling them, the sugar content mutates producing Advanced Glycation End products, AGEs, which do immense harm to the skin.

This is quite a complex book, so if you’re really interested in its message, we suggest you read it in detail.

At any age, whether you’re a diabetic or not, it pays to regulate your blood sugar.

Image from Syntagma Photographic

A diet high in sugar or refined carbohydrates will almost certainly ensure you suffer from mood swings at inconvenient times. You may also endure memory lapses, mental fuzziness, acute fatigue and weight issues.

In modern times it’s not so easy simply to restrict sugary foods. Sugar is often disguised in packaged foods with other names like, glucose, dextrose and flour (white flour acts like sugar in the blood stream). It’s hard to avoid the sweet stuff without adopting a very limited diet.

It is, however, possible to balance your blood sugar naturally. A two step strategy is best. You can cut out overt sugar in your meals, and also assist the body in coping with what’s left.

Chromium is said to have an effect in regulating blood sugar and can be bought as a mineral supplement. But two natural products you can add to your food will make a difference.

Camomile may be bought as a tea, or tisane, in tea bags. Apart from its relaxing effect, it gently balances your blood sugar.

Cinnamon has a similar function. It can be taken in many ways. Sprinkling a quarter teaspoon over breakfast cereal is probably the easiest.

A recent study at Tel Aviv University in Israel, tested 60 volunteers using a brain exercising computer program, MindFit, for 30 minutes, three times a week, and compared them with another 60 playing sophisticated computer games.

The results showed that although all benefited from playing on the computer, those on MindFit had better improvement in short-term learning, visual and spatial learning and focused attention.

These findings are especially relevant to those of a certain age and show that exercise can stave off the reduction of mental faculties. It seems that very few golden agers realize that giving the brain a workout is just as important as physical exercise.

Susan Greenfield, a neurologist and Director of the Royal Institution, is supporting the use of computer brain games to tackle mental decline.

She believes that with no cure for Alzheimer’s disease on the horizon, these exercises are a good way of staving off dementia and keeping the mind alert.

Baronness Greenfield will launch MindFit in the House of Lords in October. She says, “There is now good scientific evidence to show that exercising the brain can slow, delay and protect against age related decline”.

Nintendo, the computer console company, is behind another product, the Brain Training computer game. The Brain-Master keeps the mind agile by testing logical analysis, memory retention, coordination and concentration.

The developer of the software, Professor Ryuta Hawashima of Japan’s Tohonu University, said the games increase the delivery of oxygen, blood and amino acids to the brain, leading to the creation of connections between brain cells.

MindFit is a new rival, developed in Israel and already available in the U.S. Baroness Greenfield is involved with the company producing the software and her name will be used to promote it in Britain, where it will cost £70 ($140).

The software claims to improve short-term memory by 18 percent, eye-hand co-ordination by 16.5 percent, memory recall by 14 percent and reaction time by 12.5 percent.