Cases of depression are currently at an all-time high the world over, with some going so far as to call the trend a historical epidemic. Whether you’re in Los Angeles, Laos, London or Lisbon, the chances are you’ll either have experienced depression or been close to someone who has.
The potential remedies and treatments for depression are manifold, ranging from the ‘have a beer or two’ admonitions of well-meaning pals to the various, side-effect prone offerings of the pharmaceutical world. While some of these proposed palliatives undoubtedly have their merits, a more ubiquitously endorsed (and cheaper!) counteragent to the blight of the black dog exists all around us…nature.
Below, we take you through five ways in which nature can keep that black dog at bay and help you beat the blues.
1) Endorphin Hits in Happy Places: Getting the Runner’s High in Mood-Lifting Landscapes
Endorphins, put simply, are feel-good chemicals released by our bodies when we exercise. In various studies over the years, the endorphin boost acquired when working up a sweat has been shown to significantly improve participants’ moods and mental states and combat the worst effects of depression. Sadly, however, endorphins can’t be bought. Nor can they be prescribed. The only way to ensure we get our fill is to get out and get moving.
While hitting the gym or running a marathon will undoubtedly provide a healthy endorphin hit, the optimal environment for getting that hit is out in the great outdoors. When we exercise in nature, we not only benefit psychologically from the physical effort we put in but also from other factors such as Vitamin D exposure from sunlight (see below) and the visual impact our surroundings have on our brains.
A 2013 study published in Environmental Science and Technology revealed that immersing ourselves in natural scenery doesn’t only cut the risk of becoming depressed in the first place but also mitigates the symptoms of depression for those already suffering from the illness.
Taking your exercise outdoors and enjoying all the natural scenery you’ll find on a hike, cycle or kayaking trip, therefore, is just about the perfect blues-busting combo.
2) Exposure to Sunlight: Vitamin D’s Express Delivery Service
Vitamin D has long been known as a key contributor to several health benefits, ranging from improved bone and dental health to decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. Recent studies have added another string to the ‘sunshine vitamin’s bow by demonstrating a strong link between vitamin D deficiency and depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The most notable of these was a 2013 study by PubMed, during which researchers found that participants with low vitamin D were at a much greater risk of depression. While vitamin D is available in various supplements, the most effective way of getting your fill is to spend more time outdoors.
Our bodies produce vitamin D in reaction to sunlight. By heading out on a long hike or cycle, therefore, we maximize our bodies’ production of vitamin D by exposing ourselves to more sunlight than when getting our exercise indoors or doing more intensive, short forms of exercise such as jogging or playing tennis.
For more on the link between Vitamin D and mental well-being, check out the following articles from vitamindcouncil.org and The Independent.
3) Normalizing Brain Activity by Switching Off From Stressors
Circa 2010 a new term began to emerge in the disposable vocabulary of most mental health professionals – stressors. While stressors have always existed in one form or another, these days we are surrounded by more of them and spending more time connected (to phones, tablets, laptops, and computers) than ever before.
The cognitive overload that comes with this over-exposure, many believe, has been a key contributor in rising cases of depression. Stressors not only contribute to depression-causing triggers like sleep loss, increased feelings of isolation and loneliness and, of course, stress, but also deprive us of the time our ancestors may have spent in nature reaping the psychological rewards mentioned elsewhere in this article.
One sure-fire way to disconnect from our stressors is to take our me-time to locations where ‘connection’ is either unavailable or where we’re doing activities that entail being too occupied to pay them the attention we do when at home.
Halfway up a climb or negotiating an airy stretch of trail on a mountainside, for example, is no time to be checking your email! And when you do get around to checking that email back in the office, other studies have shown, the time you’ve spent in the outdoors will make it less of a cause for doom, gloom and despair than it might have been beforehand.
4) Restoring a Natural Sleep Pattern
Maintaining a regular and healthy sleep pattern is a must in the battle against depression. In fact, recent studies have gone as far as to show that sleep alone may well be the best treatment for depression there is.
The bad news is that sleeplessness is one of depression’s most pervasive and self-perpetuating symptoms. The good news is that one of the most effective ways of combating sleeplessness and helping you restore a natural sleep pattern is easily come by.
Which way? You guessed it…getting out and spending some time in nature! Several studies have revealed that when we feel more alert and invigorated during the day, we tend to enjoy both better and longer sleep at night.
This alertness and invigoration is something we’re unlikely to find sat in front of the TV or even at the gym, but is easily come by when doing moderately strenuous forms of outdoor exercise like hiking, rock-climbing, snowshoeing, skiing and cycling.
The effects of this more natural stimulation, combined with exposure to sunlight and the physical fatigue entailed in the activity, all improve our chances of copping a healthy amount of Zs at the end of the day.
The outdoors can help you maintain a healthy sleep pattern as well as provide added health benefits for spending time in nature.
5) Neural Activity in Natural Environments – Better Than in Non-Natural Ones
Reaping the mental benefits of spending time in nature is possible even for those who aren’t sports enthusiasts or regular outdoors-people. All it may take to claim these cerebral dividends, it seems, could be a change in where you walk your dog or how you get to work.
A recent study from Stanford University has highlighted the link between increasing urbanization and the rise in cases of mental illness, most notably different types of depression. The study found that participants who went for a walk in a natural environment showed less neural activity in the area of the brain associated with depression than in other participants who were walking in a man-made, urban environment.
Longer walks, moreover, produced changes in participants’ brain activity that decreased the risk of succumbing to depression in the first place. By simply making a stroll amidst the green stuff instead of the grey stuff part of your routine, therefore, you’ll be dealing depression a hefty daily blow.
Conclusion
Hippocrates, the man responsible for giving the world the Hippocratic Oath and widely regarded as the ’father of medicine’, once said that ‘nature itself is the best physician’. The world might have changed a lot since 400BC, but our neural chemistry and psychological frailties have not. These days there are dozens of treatments available for sufferers of depression.
The above points, however, demonstrate that Hippocrates’ words still stand true to this day and one of the best ways of beating the blues is to head outdoors and get your fill of Mother Nature’s very own nemesis to depression…nature itself.
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