How to Use Nature to Help Manage Anxiety and Depression

I believe that the use of medicine for anxiety and depression is absolutely okay. If you need to take medicine for the long-term, how wonderful that you found something that helps relieve your symptoms and will work for you for years to come. If you only need to take medicine in the short-term, that’s great news, too! God gave us medicine to help correct this biological, spiritual, and situational, complex health issue, and we must not ignore the hope medicine can provide for those in need.

I fall more into the short-term category than the long-term category. On and off since Ruthie was born, I’ve taken medication mostly for anxiety, but inevitably those symptoms of depression that come along with anxiety, too.

I went to see a counselor earlier this year and also talked with our Family Medicine doctor about how I felt. Both shared with me that people with more mild anxiety and depression, like mine, find success alleviating their symptoms in the long-term through exercise and dietary changes. Being someone who enjoys finding the more natural way to do things, I started to look for ways to fight anxiety and depression with nature. I discovered a few practical things that help me feel more energetic and less bogged down in my thoughts.

Take a walk outside in the morning. That bright, golden sun seems to shine more vibrantly in the morning. My body soaks up its rays like a dry sponge. I can almost feel my cells storing away extra Vitamin D for later, when the darker days of winter boldly come. The morning sun combined with some brisk walking (or jogging after children) helps wake me up and puts me more in tune with what’s happening around me. Getting my body “up and running” right away in the morning helps me to continue to “run” throughout the day.

Study something outdoors that you find beautiful. I could spend a long time walking back and forth along my edge of my wildflower garden. I study how pollen clings closely to the small ridges on the inside of a coneflower. I watch a bumble bee lazily float from flower to flower, gathering food for itself and spreading pollen for everyone else. I gaze at the patterns of black and orange zig-zagging and swirling into little dots on the back of a monarch opening and closing its wings. What do you find beautiful in the world around you? Study, observe, and give full attention to what is beautiful about your surroundings, even if just for a moment, and remember, remember, remember how you felt in the wake of that beauty, even if just for a moment.

Eat whole, natural, and mostly unprocessed foods. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and lean meats do not make me feel terrible. Crackers, bagels, chips, milkshakes, and candy bars do make me feel terrible. When I was younger, I could eat whatever I wanted to and feel amazing afterward. Now that I’m older, I can still eat whatever I want to, but I feel awful afterward. You know the old saying: “You are what you eat.” Do you want to be a sugary bagel slathered in butter and filled with additives, or do you want to be a wholesome, crisp, juicy apple dipped in homemade peanut butter? I feel better as the latter, although sometimes I morph into the former, just for a little while. When we give our bodies good fuel, we feel good, too.

I pray that those of you who struggle with anxiety and depression will find hope in Jesus most of all, and also some helpful, doable ways to keep your anxiety and depression at bay.