About the Hosts

Christy Wilkie provides therapy for children and adolescents, ages 5-25, who have complex behavioral health issues. She combines her extensive clinical expertise with a belief in kids, and has a unique ability to find and develop their strengths. She works hard to be an ideal therapist for her clients, doing what is best to fit their needs.

Lucas Mitzel provides therapy for children, adolescents, and adults, ages 5 - 30. He believes building relationships with clients is the most important piece of successful therapy. He loves what he does because it allows him to walk next to people he would never have met had he chosen a different profession, as they work to make amazing life changes. He has the honor of meeting people at their worst, all while watching them grow into the people they’ve always wanted to be.

Transcript
Do We Need to Get Outside?

Featuring Christy Wilkie, LCSW, and Lucas Mitzel, LCSW, Dakota Family Services

Announcer:

This episode of, is It Just Me, is brought to you by Dakota Family Services, your trusted partner in mental and behavioral health, whether you need in-person or virtual care, the team of professionals at Dakota Family Services is dedicated to supporting children, adolescents, and adults in their journey to better mental health.

Christy:

Disrupting life patterns and life routines that aren't serving you.

Lucas:

It's how we feel that keeps us going.

Christy:

You can be a masterpiece in a work of art all at the same time.

Lucas:

Hey everyone, I'm Lucas.

Christy:

And I'm Christy.

Lucas:

And you're listening to the Is It Just Me podcast

Christy:

Where we aim to provide education, decrease the stigma, and expel some myths around mental health.

Lucas:

<laugh>. Wow. Uh, Christy

Christy:

The mood. That's the mood for today.

Lucas:

Yeah. Is it just me or do we need to go outside more?

Christy:

We do need to go outside more. I need to go outside more.

Lucas:

And before we get into that, I just want to announce, um, that I wanted this podcast. I wanted it to be, is it just me or do we need to touch grass more? Yeah. And Christy said, no. And I think that's, I

Christy:

<laugh> I think that, yes, I think that I made an executive the, maybe the only executive decision I've ever made <laugh> in this podcasting world, but I was like, let's maybe not do that.

Lucas:

But I mean, it's internet slang. We should talk about that at some point. Just the internet in general. I think that'd be kind of fun.

Christy:

Are you insinuating that we're cool enough to be using internet slang? You maybe are, actually.

Lucas:

I'm cool Enough.

Christy:

Yeah. I don't know that I've checked that.

Lucas:

I'm not cool enough <laugh>, but we're gonna try anyways. Back to back to going outside

Christy:

Circle. Back to going outside <laugh>.

Lucas:

So why do we need to go outside more?

Christy:

Well, I think there's a lot of reasons we need to go outside more, but number one, I mean, there is a lot of research that shows that going outside improves your mental health.

Lucas:

Yeah. And I think that there's a lot, there's so many different factors as to why it improves your mental health. Do

Christy:

Do You know how many factors

Lucas:

I didn't count them. Math as hard.

Christy:

I was just checking you are the statistics guy. <laugh>,

Lucas:

<laugh>. I just write them down. I don't count them. Okay, sure. Yeah. But like, just going to, we'll go fine. We'll just do the nerd stuff first then. Oh, perfect. Um, so <laugh>, it increases vitamin D in your brain. Okay. And it also increases melatonin production. And so vitamin D is really important because it, we all hear about vitamin DA lot, but I don't think anybody really knows what it is unless you're a doctor or us kind of, um. Vitamin D is really great because it reduces your risk for a lot of different health conditions, not just mental health conditions, specifically multiple sclerosis. Heart disease, severe illness such as like Covid. It can lower your risk to that. Um, and it also supports overall immune health for people with autoimmune diseases, which is really interesting.

Christy:

It is extraordinarily beneficial. And I think that we know that living in this neck of the woods or any neck of the woods where it's cold and dreary a lot, I think we're all probably vitamin D deficient.

Lucas:

Absolutely.

Christy:

Like in general.

Lucas:

Yeah. We don't see the sun ever for like eight months.

Christy:

That's true.

Lucas:

Yeah. It's just always cloudy and it gets dark really fast. Like we go to work when it's dark and then we leave work when it's dark

Lucas:

So it's really hard to get any sun.

Christy:

Right. And I think that's probably why it feels so good when spring rolls around and it's like, the days just get a little bit longer. Like when once we get past that, whatever the shortest day of the year is, it's like January 20th or something, the winter solstice. It's like, oh my gosh, we are on the end. We are on the end of it. Like Yeah. The days are gonna get longer and I get so excited.

Lucas:

Yeah. When the, when the first sun comes into my office or like when, especially when we have that daylight savings time coming in and then all of a sudden it's like light again in the morning. It's really exciting. Like it just so good.

Christy:

And interesting that you're saying that because I've read somewhere too that even, even if you can't get outside the impact that having a window in your office has is huge in just letting in light and sunlight and whatever. And so like finding an office with a window is huge.

Lucas:

Yeah. It's great. Vitamin D also helps with regulating mood too. It's really good for depression and anxiety. It also is good to note that if you have depression or a history of it, you naturally have a lower level of vitamin D. They've done a lot of studies and have found that which is really interesting. And there's also some evidence, fun facts here, that it helps support weight loss. And it impacts so many different areas of life. And we, especially up in the northern states here. I think we just kind of, we just are used to living without it. Right. And it's so much better when we can have that.

Christy:

It's stuff that's stuff we talk about all the time though on this podcast too, where it's like when you're just used to feeling a certain way, you don't think that there's a, a different way that you can feel, it is really easy to just accept that whatever you're feeling is status quo. Whether that comes to anxiety or depression or vitamin D deficiency, apparently. That like, we just, we just kind of accept feeling a little bit, eh, because that's just kind of how we're used to feeling. And it doesn't have to be that way.

Lucas:

It never has to be that way.

Christy:

It doesn't, does it?

Lucas:

Things can get better. And melatonin just quickly is it's a chemical that your brain produces in order to help you regulate sleep and sleep is probably one of the most common universal symptoms that we look at for there being a issue with the brain. Yeah. Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, you name it. There's a symptom in there talking about sleep at some point.

Christy:

And if you're not getting enough sleep that, I mean, we also look at that when we're looking at like behavior or mood or whatever it might come because if, if you're not getting a solid seven to eight hours of sleep, it impacts so many other things that it might present as a depression or an anxiety or something. But it really is like, dude, you just need to sleep. We just need to figure out your sleep cycles. People come in and they're like, well, I'm getting four, four and a half hours of sleep a night. It's like, oh, well that's not enough. Not even close not even a little bit

Lucas:

Just over halfway there.

Christy:

So I mean, it is, sleep is very important

Lucas:

When we talk about going outside, what does that, what do we have to do for that? Because I think a lot of times when I think of going outside, because I, I'm an outdoors man, I, I really enjoy being outdoors, but I like to do really intense things, like backpacking for 40 miles over a weekend or something like that.

Christy:

Psycho.

Lucas:

I, I know <laugh> says the person who's running their what, how many marathons now?

Christy:

It will be my fourth.

Lucas:

Exactly. Psycho.

Christy:

My gosh.

Lucas:

So what do we have to do?

Christy:

You have to open the door, honestly, or open a window. It doesn't have to be like, immerse yourself in the great outdoors in order to get the benefits of being outside. Like you can literally open your sledding glass, glass door, open a shade depending on where you're at. 'cause sometimes going outside can be very daunting for people who are super depressed or who are suffering from a mental health issue. And it's like, and we say this all the time with depression, is that the things that help you are the things that you don't wanna do. Like you don't want to get up and go outside. You don't want to open your shade and just doing, if that's where you're at, just like opening your window in your bedroom that is going outside, essentially. It can be. You can benefit from that. Yeah.

Lucas:

Just sitting in the sunlight or just letting natural light come into your room can improve things drastically. Yeah. Um, and it's baby steps, right. So if you're not at a spot where you can go outside, that's totally fine. Don't be hard on yourself about that. Just start where you're at and then we'll slowly get there. I've sitting on your deck. And just like, or outside or just like sitting in the grass Or something like that is great. If that's all we can get to, fantastic. Yeah. 10 minutes, whatever. Sometimes

Christy:

Even when I go home at the end of the day, I'll just stand in my, in my driveway for like five minutes and just be like, okay, we got through that day that good for me. And I just wanted to like be outside for a minute and it's like, it just calms my brain.

Lucas:

For, I mean, with people who, who have ADHD there's been a lot of studies that have shown that going outside either actively or passively. So either playing a sport or doing something active or just sitting on a bench and reading a book, when they come back in and do like a test, they perform tons better. Which is really interesting. That is interesting. Um, typically we think of with ADHD that we need to just have, it's all about movement, which it is very much so. A lot about movement, but even just going outside and just sitting outside, the impact that that has is huge on people for concentration, and being able to, uh, perform tasks well afterwards.

Christy:

Yeah. I think I've read a study recently that they, they took a bunch of people that had ADHD and they had a bunch of 'em go outside and then perform a, a test when they came back in. And the, and the kids that were able to go outside did much better on the test. And in fact said that it almost mimicked a dose of like methylphenidate, which is a common ADHD medication that we use to medicate A DHD. It had a very similar effect to like an actual medication, which is awesome.

Lucas:

That's awesome. Yeah. Similarly to how exercise has a similar effect to an antidepressant. That's so cool.

Christy:

It Is so cool.

Lucas:

Which is why, I mean, we're talking about kids right now, but why recess is so important.

Christy:

Oh, yes. Right.

Lucas:

Like I used to, like, when I was a kid, I remember the look on my teacher's face every single time recess got canceled because of weather. And they were, it was like they were buckling down for World War iii.

Christy:

And that's, we see that too, when we have kids that have had a bad day at school and the parents bring 'em in. They're like, well, they had kind of a rough afternoon, but they also didn't have recess. So that makes sense, So it's like, it just the impact that recess has on kids and just being able to go out like during the school day or just in general during the, during the summer months, get those kids outside and moving the, it's just the benefits are so good.

Lucas:

I mean, I have a couple kids as part of their treatment plan after they get home from school, the first thing they have to do is be outside and play for like 15 minutes, and then they do homework, and then they go and do whatever it is they need to do. And it is night and day.

Christy:

Do You wanna write my treatment plan?

Lucas:

Sure. <laugh>,

Christy:

You have to go out and play for 15 minutes when you get home from work every day. Cool. I can do that.

Lucas:

It was, it's great for some people and if, because with ADHD, like, especially throughout the, the day, we should also have a podcast on ADHD, but you're kind of like a stretched up out rubber band. And when you come home from school because you've had all these demands on you and doing something active or even just simply going outside helps relieve that, that tension. And then you can now perform tasks much better like your chores or your homework that you might have. And it just leads to way less conflicts in the house.

Christy:

Oh, for sure. And I think there's also like, there's voluntary attention and involuntary attention, and I feel like going outside is like this involuntary attention where you just are, you're just paying attention without really realizing that you're paying attention to something. Yeah. I, in my old age, I've always, I've become a bird watcher when I'm at home. Like when I'm at home, at the lake, at my mom's house and they've got birds out there, and I make fun of people all the time for bird watching. So I'm like, why are you watching birds? We are young people.

Lucas:

We're young people

Christy:

Watching birds. But then I, I go outside and I, and they've got all these bird feeders and I just find myself watching birds and everything else just kind of like floats away because I'm so focused on these stupid birds. And now I'm a bird watcher.

Lucas:

I just learned something new about you.

Christy:

I, I'm, and I'm sorry about it. I'm the bird watcher I never wanted to become.

Lucas:

What Is your favorite bird?

Christy:

The Hummingbird.

Lucas:

Oh, That's a good pick.

Christy:

They're so cute.

Lucas:

Yeah, they're pretty cool.

Christy:

Yeah. And my mom's got these little feeders and they just like, ugh. It is, wow. Okay. Nerd alert here.

Lucas:

It's about time you have, but

Christy:

I know, but it's, it's, I, I just think about how involuntary that was. Right. Like, there's a bird. I'm watching it. That's what happens. Think of all the things in nature that you go in and you just, how many people got out and watched the Northern Lights last week?

Lucas:

Yeah.

Christy:

Like so many people. And it was during that time, I guarantee you that all of those people that were chasing these northern lights or looking at them, that is all they were focusing on. Everything else just kind of melted away.

Lucas:

What's that called? What When you do that, what are you practicing?

Christy:

Mindfulness. There you go. Oh, look at me. I got it right. I was like, oh shoot. I don't know the answer to this question.

Lucas:

<laugh> completely unscripted guys all.

Christy:

Always Wow. But yes, mindfulness, which is, I mean, we even debated doing like throwing mindfulness in here today. Because it is, it's such a great skill for attention and doing it outside any sort of mindfulness activity outside, I just feel like is a easier Yeah. And B I feel like is more beneficial if you can do it outside.

Lucas:

Yeah. Absolutely. The other thing that being outside really helps improve is social interactions. Because when you're outside, you're around other people and it's really hard to necessarily avoid contact with people that way. But I've also, as somebody who's an avid backpacker and camper, people who are outdoors a lot are like the nicest people ever. Yeah. And especially when I'm out, like in the back country and stuff, like, I have never met nicer people when we are all just

Christy:

Trying to survive. Yes.

Lucas:

Yeah. That's a, a way to put it. Um, having fun Yeah. Is what we're doing. But even just like having like a little head nod and a smile and stuff that is improving on social interactions and empathy. And it's just really, really good for kids and adults.

Christy:

Well, I mean, I think I think about that for just on trails or paths in general. Um, you don't have to be in the, in the, in the back woods of wherever you might be, but it's like just going to a park and having to like, have social interaction and being around people without really having to be around people is really great. And I mean, it is a good place to practice social skills too, but like, I know when I am running and I run by somebody who does not wave at me.

Christy:

I, it, I am offended. Like, can you not wave at me? I'm waving. I am, I am practicing my social skills by We are, we're out here, we are doing the same thing. We are both probably miserable, but loving it at the same time. Like, just like a hi goes a long way.

Lucas:

Just a Little wave. Just a little wave.

Christy:

That'd be fine. Sometimes you get the people are like, yeah, let's go. And that's even cooler. Um, but having all that social interaction that you get organically by being, by being out on paths or trails or the road or wherever it might be, is like so good for your, your head.

Lucas:

Yeah. There's, there's been a lot of research on, so being outside and what, what is actually making that beneficial? Like how to get the most out of being outside. And they've shown that simply. I mean, being outside in general is great. So it's better than just being inside. However you get the most impact location wise by being in what's called a green space. And a green space is anywhere that has green in it.

Christy:

Clever name.

Lucas:

I know. They're just trying to trick us all the time. I know. And so, trees, grass, you know, whatever they've shown that taking a walk in a city, uh, actually doesn't have as much of an impact beneficial beneficially wise as I think

Christy:

Beneficially wise.

Lucas:

I, I was really hoping you weren't person. I said that. Yeah.

Christy:

And here we're, I know better. Like, I missed that opportunity. <laugh>.

Lucas:

Oh my goodness. It's not as beneficial. There we go. There you go. As being outside like in a forest. Or in a park.

Christy:

Yeah. It's, which is really interesting to me. I was, I was thinking the other day when we were talking about going outside and I've, I've spent some time in New York and love the city, holler, but I also never realize how much you don't see the sky when you're in the city. It is such a weird experience to like, you're down there and you don't really even realize that you're not getting that access to the sky that you normally get. This sounds so dumb, but it is a real thing. And then, and then I come back and I'm like, oh, it's like breathing again. It's like everything is wide open. I mean, we don't have a building for miles and it's just like this wide open, like relief feeling. It's like, oh, I just realized that I probably haven't seen the sky for like four days.

Lucas:

Yeah. I had the same experience in Vancouver the other weekend. Yeah. It's really big city. Shout out to my Canadian people. And, but then we, we took a, a little break and went into what's called Stanley Park, which is a really big park, kind of like Central Park. And even just walking into that and just being, rather than enclosed in buildings, being enclosed in trees. Huge difference.

Christy:

I should have looked this up, but I didn't think about it until just now, because I don't think about anything until I'm sitting in this chair. But I, I wonder what, what the statistics are of people who visit Central Park daily. Because it's one of the only places you can go within the city where it's like the green space. And to have that access to the, to the big giant ball of fire in the sky. The sun. There we go. Thank you. I'd just be curious how many, how many, what are the, what the statistics are for people that actually are there because I, I mean, everybody talks about it being packed and it's, and it's a big park so you don't really feel like there's a lot of people there. But I bet that there is.

Lucas:

I'm sure there is. And I would venture to say that people who do that regularly are reporting better

Christy:

better moods,

Lucas:

And moods than bet they

Lucas:

Somebody who is just staying in their house all the time.

Christy:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Lucas:

This just popped in my head too, but when, remember when we were, uh, quarantined I do in 2020, and how horribly everybody was doing mental health wise because we could not go outside. Yeah. Like they wouldn't even recommend us going to parks. Right. And so a lot of us were just cooped up in the house with our families for months. And I believe it was depression rates went up by, um, four times as much, and anxiety was three times as much. And I might have those reversed, but

Christy:

They're pretty close. They're pretty close.

Lucas:

But anyways, everybody was struggling. Yeah. People who were depressed, got more depressed. People who were anxious, got more anxious. People who had never experienced a mental health symptom were now really ill. We're still reaping the effects of that right now. Yeah.

Christy:

Oh, for sure. I mean, in so many ways. And I think that we probably will be seeing that in our offices for a while. But you think about even how many people do use exercising outdoors and being outside as treatment for their, for their brain, for anxiety or for whatever. And then that's like taken away from you. And that was, that was really difficult for a lot of people, especially in the big cities up here. We were a little bit more spread out, so we didn't have a lot of the same regulations that everybody else did. But to have that taken away from you is like, oh my gosh, now what? And now I'm in my house, I'm cooped up. No, nothing is open. I can't get out to get anything done or taken care of. It's like now I'm just trying to manage with the best you got. It was, those were rough times. Wow.

Lucas:

Very rough times. Yeah.

Christy:

Little trauma. I haven't, I haven't revisited 2020 in a while, but here we are.

Lucas:

My apologies.

Christy:

<laugh>. Yeah.

Lucas:

Put a trigger warning before I see stuff like that. I'm kidding. Have you ever heard of forest bathing?

Christy:

Yes, I have. Actually.

Lucas:

That surprises me a little bit. Does it? Yeah. Do you know where it originated?

Christy:

I'm gonna go with, I don't know why. I feel like Norway,

Lucas:

Japan.

Christy:

Oh. No, wouldn't have gone there.

Lucas:

Yeah. It's called Shin Rin Yoku.

Lucas:

I'm really excited about it.

Christy:

Are you gonna start doing it?

Lucas:

Yeah. Are you joking?

Christy:

No, I'm not joking.

Lucas:

Uh, no, it's forced bathing is where you simply just immerse yourself in a green space and just mindfully are using all five senses. So you're just practicing mindfulness in a green space. So when you're sitting in there, you're using five senses to describe what you're seeing, smelling, hearing, if you're tasting anything, what you feel like on your skin. Um, and by doing this, they've shown, there's been tons of studies on this, but they've shown immune system function improvements, cardiovascular system improvements, respiratory functions, improvements in depression, anxiety, ADHD, and just overall feelings of gratitude and selflessness really, which is really cool.

Christy:

How long must one forest bath, like how long do you have to be out there in order to reap the benefits? Do you know?

Lucas:

It's not very long. Okay. Um, and like, you don't have to sit out there for hours and hours and hours and like cross-legged going only the entire time.

Christy:

You could though if you wanted.

Lucas:

You could, if that is, if that's

Christy:

Your thing,

Lucas:

Go for it. Do what works. Be effective. That's, that's right. That's one of the tenets of mindfulness is be effective.

Christy:

What does that mean?

Lucas:

It means to do what works. And so what works for me is gonna be different than what works for Christy. especially. 'cause Christy's a little weird and likes to watch birds. I'm joking.

Christy:

No, You're not. And that's fine.

Lucas:

I'm fine with with that. Um, no hate to any of our birdwatching.

Christy:

No. Those are my people

Lucas:

Audience. And so it's, uh, yeah, just doing what works is really what being effective is. Okay. But the different activities that you can do. outside I think is really important. Um, because like I said, we, we kind of talked about this a little bit before, talking about how you don't, you can just open up your, your shades and and stuff. But like, if you're wanting to move past that a little bit, I think that there's some really cool ideas that you can do in your city. You don't have to have, like, we don't have any like, really big parks in our area. And by park I mean like a national park. Or like a place to like really go camping. We have I think Buffalo River Yeah. Is like 45 minutes away. Which is a great park. But it's not like glacier. Thank you. Great example. Yeah. So what are some things that you can do like in a city?

Christy:

I think a lot of people go to plants in this neck of the woods. I didn't think of that. There's a lot of people that are really into plants planting in some cases. Even bringing the green space inside, which I think is a awesome concept for people who can keep plants alive. Not me, it's, I'm not that person either. But we've got a colleague who is wild about plants and it brings her happiness and joy. And so like doing that, bringing it inside or going outside and doing planting, having plants around. I think that's something easy anybody can do in any space.

Lucas:

I have never seen somebody more excited about putting a plant in a pot than her.

Christy:

Yes. We're just gonna call out Falan. Yeah. I mean, why not? That's fair. Like she is Yeah. The girl is Plants bring her joy. Yeah. Like I have never seen.

Lucas:

And We love it for her.

Christy:

We do love it for her. I, if I ever get a plant I'm giving it to, she's in charge of keeping it alive because <laugh>, she will, she'll talk to it. She'll give it a name.

Lucas:

You're gonna have a plant nanny.

Christy:

That's <laugh>. You know, I wonder how much that would cost.

Lucas:

I think she'd do it for free.

Christy:

She probably would. Yeah. Just for just She'd get joy outta it.

Lucas:

Yeah. Exactly. Oh my goodness. Okay. And we're back.

Christy:

Rabbit Hole <laugh>.

Lucas:

Just, I mean, simply going out for a walk. Is a really good idea. I think that one really good thing that I've really found is being outside, just like with my kid and spending time. That's one of my favorite things to do. Um, we will go for walks and watching him, he gets a little distracted at times. 'cause he's three and he will sit down and he will just play with these little pebbles that he finds for like 15 minutes. And even just watching him do that while we're next to a really, like cars are driving by watching us do this. Right. <laugh>. It's, it's interesting. But, uh, no, it's just great.

Christy:

I think like, even tasks, it is so strange. It's not strange I guess, but so many people love to mow the lawn. And I don't even know what it is that people think it is about it that they like. But there are so many things about mowing the lawn that are so meditative down to, for one, mowing the lawn is great because there's a start and a stop. Like you can see the progress that you're making that is very satisfying for a lot of people. Secondly, you can put your headphones on or not and just kind of zone out and you hear the hum of the lawnmower. It can be very mindful when you're, you're going, it's a, a repetitive mo motion. You're going back and forth and back and forth and you hear, you know, whatever you have in your, in your ears. And it's just so easy to get lost in the sunshine or the clouds. It doesn't matter. I think people take for granted how powerful mowing the lawn is.

Lucas:

Yeah. It's almost hypnotic. Yeah. But yeah, it's very mindful because you're very focused on it and you can just, you can automatically see the progress. Occurring, which is really great for the brain. Yep. And you have a, like this before picture in your mind and then afterwards, like you were saying, it's totally different. And it looks really, really good. So yeah. Mowing the lawn is a really good one. I love mowing the lawn actually.

Christy:

Yeah, I bet you do. Yeah. It is. We, I get so many people come in and talk about how much they love mowing the lawn, but like shoveling snow is very similar, which sounds like it's gonna be terrible. And honestly sometimes it is.

Lucas:

It always is terrible.

Christy:

Right. But you're getting outside. I am. And there is some mindfulness that comes with scoop and throw, scoop and throw. Yeah. And there's a beginning and an end.

Lucas:

All of this is true. We should probably, I mean, we live in a state that is in winter, eight months outta the year. Yeah. We don't have green space for eight months. It's just white space.

Christy:

It Is. It's not great. No. So you have to be really creative about how you get any access to the outdoors up here.

Lucas:

Yeah. And although like we talking about how there's not like direct sunlight. There is natural light outside. And that natural light is really helpful. Even though you are covering up most of your body with a jacket <laugh> and you can't really absorb the vitamin D, but the feeling of it, even just on your face Yeah. Is going to have improvements or benefits to you also. There's the cold in and of itself will activate the parasympathetic nervous system. which slows the heart rate. It'll calm the mind and it reduces stress. So there is

Christy:

Sign me up, right?

Lucas:

Yeah. Um, and it's similar to, there's a D-B-T skill where you can, it's called ice diving where you take Oh yeah. Like a bucket of water that you can fit your face in and then you, that's a little bit colder than room temperature. And take a deep breath and then put your face in it, hold it under there, up to your temples. Come back up, take another deep breath. And it's a distressed tolerance skill that's used. That's super helpful. When you are in a really big moment of distress and really struggling to manage your emotions, it brings you back under control. This is the exact same concept, right. Just without the water <laugh>.

Christy:

Right. We talk about other outdoor activities. I mean, I think about even mini golf or big kid golf, any kind of golfing. Right.

Lucas:

Just not during the winter. Right.

Christy:

Just not during the winter going out and like riding go-karts. Like at Thunder Road we have like a little amusement park thingy. Yeah. But like doing something like that is whatever. Pickleball is huge right now.

Lucas:

It Is so huge.

Christy:

It is so huge. I feel like I need to play it <laugh>. I do.

Lucas:

Well you used to be really good at tennis.

Christy:

Well, yeah, I did. I was. Yeah. And then my knees broke.

Lucas:

Well It happens.

Christy:

<laugh>. It Apparently does. But I think pickleball is just like mini tennis.

Lucas:

It is. That's why I was saying like

Christy:

Tennis, ping pong,

Lucas:

Tennis ping. Oh, there you go.

Christy:

You know? Yeah. Kind of. Maybe we should go try it.

Lucas:

That would be fun.

Christy:

That Would be fun.

Lucas:

They should like film it.

Christy:

They should. Doug will go Perfect. <laugh> poor Doug is the guy in here. Who else has to listen to this all the time and controls our levels, but yeah. Um, Doug's great.

Lucas:

We Love Doug.

Christy:

We do love Doug. And I bet he'd beat a, a pickleball enthusiast if we got him out on the court.

Lucas:

I Bet he would kick our butts.

Christy:

He I bet he would too. Uh, but all of those, like, it doesn't have to be like huge things. It's just little, little steps and, and doing it like yoga. Right. Yoga's great. Even if it's inside yoga's good for you. But if you can do yoga outside and so much of yoga is about grounding and being one with the earth and that sort of thing. Doing yoga outside. Huh? That would be, that's so good.

Lucas:

Yeah. There's actually, um, there's a lot of people that they only do yoga outside. I believe it. And they have like whole classes where they like fill out Philip Parks Oh yeah. And just do yoga and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. And it's very beneficial for all of the reasons we've been talking about. Right. For winter. Some activity ideas that are really awesome. Building a snowman. Oh yeah.

Christy:

Is this where we could start talking about Elsa? Do you wanna build a snowman?

Lucas:

I am so sorry to everybody listening. <laugh> No.

Christy:

You went there.

Lucas:

Uh, <laugh>, sledding, snowboarding, skiing. Um, snowshoeing. Snowshoeing. I love snowshoeing. Ice skating.

Christy:

Ice skating. Ice fishing.

Lucas:

Oh, there you go.

Christy:

You Know what's, you know what is even more beneficial about ice fishing? I don't know if you've, I grew up on a lake and when you go out on the lake in the middle of winter, there are ice fishing communities. Like everybody's houses are set up all like around together. And there is, there's another social interaction part of being outside while you're doing an activity like fishing. Yeah. You get to hang out with people and fish great on the ice. Beautiful.

Lucas:

Even Better. Yeah. You talked a little bit about this or we, we started talking about but like listening. and the sounds of nature and how calming that can be. Oh yeah. Um, I think that there's a huge benefit to even just hearing nature and spending time listening to just whatever's happening around you. Not even just being in it, but like, there's benefits to like having a sound machine. That has a bunch of crickets going or something. Or waterfalls. Or rainfall. I mean, it's not a coincidence that sound machines typically have a bunch of nature sounds in it. It's because it works.

Christy:

Or like Sleep meditations. Yeah. Guided, um, progressive muscle relaxation, like storms rain. Like those are everybody's go-tos. And it, and think of how it makes you feel when you're listening. Even when the rain is coming down and your windows are open. It's so relaxing. There's a reason for that. Like I think we're primarily hardwired to have to respond to the, to nature in that way. To have it in influence our moods.

Lucas:

Yeah. They've done studies on listening to nature sounds and it actually will lower cortisol levels in your brain, which is the stress hormone. And so you're gonna have lower anxiety and improved performance simply by listening to birds chirping

Christy:

Or whatever. That's great. Yeah. Birds chirping.

Lucas:

I know I picked that one for you.

Christy:

I Appreciate it, <laugh>. That's great.

Lucas:

What are some other, like is there any specific mental health diagnoses that we really try and focus on going outside for?

Christy:

I would say depression and anxiety are the big ones. ADHD we talked about. I would say, uh, PTSD or any sort of trauma because it produces a calming response to the, to the body and the brain. Those are the big ones for me. Are there other ones that you can think of?

Lucas:

I can think, you know, anything that has dissociation. Oh, sure. You know, 'cause we've talked a lot about how mindful you can be being outside and it's very grounding. to be outside and experience nature. So any, if you have any struggles with dissociation or, um, derealization being outside can be really helpful for that. If you're having really bad anxiety attacks, going outside can be really helpful as well. So like a panic disorder, which is a, an a class of anxiety disorders. But when you, like Christy said, I really liked how you said this earlier.

Christy:

Of Course, You did

Lucas:

<laugh>. Wow. Oh my God. If your brain's telling you not to do it It's probably a sign we need to Yeah. That being said, I think it's also important though that it's okay to not go outside. Right. Like, I dunno, is it just me <laugh>? Um, but like, it, it's sometimes when it's a really nice day out, I have, I feel this like internal pressure Yeah. To go and be outside. because, well, especially up here 'cause we don't like these days are rare. Right. But there are days after work where I'm just like, I got nothing in me. And I just, I just need to sit on my couch. Yep. That's okay. Right? Like, let yourself do that. Yes. It doesn't mean that just because we're saying that this is all really beneficial doesn't mean that every single chance you get you should go outside. Right. Like it needs to be beneficial to you.

Christy:

I think that's when I have a lot of people that come in and they're like, do you ever have people who just really like rainy days? And I think they feel weird because they really like rainy days. Yeah. And I was like, no. I think a lot of people like rainy days. 'cause it takes a little pressure off of having to go outside and do something and be productive and like, I don't want it to feel like you have to go out and do and like, but I'm not saying that you have to be outside all the time or whatever. But it's like, if you can be outside, that's great, but if you don't want to, that is also okay.

Lucas:

So Yeah.

Christy:

I mean, not forever because if the, because then we're talking depression <laugh> Well, yeah. But which isn't great. But if you, if you just need to take a day, like it's been, it's been rainy here the last two days and it's, and I've, and it's just kind of been calming and I don't know if that's just like you said, it's the, the pressure has gone to have to go outside and do something and be productive and mow the lawn and plant the flowers and make up Spice Garden or whatever people make nowadays Spice Garden. Well, <laugh>

Lucas:

Hey

Christy:

Herb, herb Garden.

Lucas:

I think they both exist.

Christy:

Do they? Yeah. Okay. Well then, well then I was right both times. I guess <laugh>, I was right. Um, <laugh>. But it, it's, it's just kind of like, okay, I can hole up and just kind of be cozy and watch tv.

Lucas:

Right. And then listening to the rain like we just talked about. Yeah. Which is great. Yeah. Um, I think another cool activity that I was, that came up a bunch when I was doing some research on all of this was doing those gardening communities.

Christy:

Oh Yeah.

Lucas:

Um, We have, I think we have one in town that's like up north. It's a community garden. Um,

Christy:

I have one in my neighborhood.

Lucas:

Oh, very cool. Yeah.

Christy:

Yeah. I don't participate in it, but I <laugh>, but I, but I run by it and they it is so cool. It's like they're, they're, and they're out there taking care of it all the time and it's actually pretty big. It's in like the rocking horse area.

Lucas:

Oh yeah.

Christy:

And they've got, I mean it is, it is nice stuff. If I knew what I was picking, I'd go out there and pick it.

Lucas:

Yeah. And there's a huge community piece to that. Yeah. Like you getting to know people, you, you have your little garden part that's like right next to other people. And so it's all of those benefits that we're talking about earlier. And it's not a physical activity. Necessarily like you're not going, I mean it is hard work. But like, you're not running. Right. So you, there's a lot of different options when to going outside and it doesn't have to equal necessarily straight up exercise. Right. And I think that that's really important for people to hear. Yeah. Because I think that there's a lot of pressure when they're like, go outside. Hi. The first thing I think of is exercise. Yeah. When somebody's like, we need to go outside. Right. And it doesn't have to be that.

Christy:

Well And think of how many senses you're utilizing when you're planting flowers or planting anything really. I mean you've got the soil, the smells, there's just so much. There's so much that goes into that activity that can be so mindful. that I could see how that would also be super beneficial.

Lucas:

Yeah. For anybody who's interested in maybe getting outside and doing walks or bike rides or anything like that. There's a really cool app that's called All Trails. Oh yeah. Um, I use it all the time and it's, it's free. Um, you can, there's a paid version of it that gives you some extra features, but you can use it to find trails in your area that you may not really know about because there is a lot of hidden little trails. Yeah. All around. And it's just got it all mapped out and it can organize it by intensity level. Easy, moderate, hard. It'll give you like an elevation map. Mm- And let you know like where that elevation is happening. And you can even, like, it's got everything in there does. So it's like hiking, biking, backpacking, but even have like off road driving as an option to sort it.

Christy:

Perfect. Yeah.

Lucas:

<laugh>

Christy:

So, Lucas turned me onto that when he was, when he was hiking. I was like, I, because I never know where to go. Like even just for a walk or even for a run to know where I'm going. My husband and I are definitely not back country backpackers, but we do enjoy a good walk through the woods. Um, and so we've used it just even around here when we've gone on vacation to just find like a little loop to, to do or like popular loops. 'cause they're rated on there too. People will tell you like what they think of them. And so, you know, we can do we're we, we're not finding ourselves out on a trail, not knowing how far or how high it's going to be. So it's just been, even just around Fargo out in like the Detroit Lakes, lakes area, Maplewood Park, there's a lot of cool things that are, that are out there and they're all in all trails and it's really cool.

Lucas:

Yeah. And it's, it's really easy to use but it's just one example and there's a lot of different apps that you can use or different websites you can use to go and find some different trails or, or just new things to try. Even just googling outdoor activities or new hobbies to try can be beneficial. I've had some people do that and have really good success there. But just like we said earlier, just being effective and doing what works for you. and spending just some time outside Yeah. Is gonna be really helpful. Absolutely. So we always want to encourage you to ask the question, is it just me? You're likely not alone. And there is always a way to help. If anything we have talked about today resonates with you, please reach out.

Christy:

Do you have a topic you'd like us to talk about and message us? We'd love to hear from you at, is it just me@dakotaranch.org.

Lucas:

<laugh>. And don't forget to share us with your friends and family.

Christy:

Thank you.

Announcer:

Thanks for listening to today's episode of Is It Just Me? To learn more or make an appointment for psychiatric or mental health services at Dakota Family Services, go to Dakota Family Services.org or call 1 800 201 6495.

Other Podcast Episodes