6 Natural Herbs To Relieve Stress & Anxiety For Children & Teens

Stress, depression, and anxiety are major problems for our kids today. From school, and peer pressure, to social media, screen times, crappy foods messing up the gut microbiome, and just living in our wild and crazy society today, it’s no wonder why depression, and other behavioral disorders are on the rise for our children and teens today. 

Thankfully there are herbs that can help, along with dietary and lifestyle considerations.

In this episode we’ll cover some of my favorite herbs in 3 major herbal categories.

• 01:50 Depression and Anxiety in Children & Adolescents
• 02:48 The Role of Herbs in Stress Management
• 04:32 Understanding Nervine Herbs
• 09:18 The Power of Antidepressant Herbs
• 12:57 Adaptogenic Herbs for Stress Management

Check out the blog post for this episode, for even greater details here. 

If you’re ready to dive deeper on ways you can support your kids, and yourself with herbs to help

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Transcript

Introduction and Personal Reflections on Holiday Stress

hello, and happy holiday season to you. I'm actually recording this episode the day after Christmas and, you know, I felt it was a really, really important time to talk about this because while the holiday season is the season to be filled with so much joy and wonder and beauty.  It's no secret that so many people find this time of year to be unbelievably stressful, myself included.

Like, it's not my favorite time of the year. Yes, I love delighting my child, I love spending time with my family, my daughter has Christmas spirit forever and ever, and she's 10, she's still full on into Santa Claus, and that stuff is beautiful. But then there are all the other things that go into making sure that the holidays are magical for her and getting everything together with the family, and the gifts, and the expectations, and the busyness, and the hustle, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, so like Yeah, you hear it.

It's, it's not my most wonderful time of the year, even though that totally bums my little girl out.  But there's also a lot to be said about the overall stress during the shorter It's days of the year when it is darker, longer, things like seasonal affective disorder kick in for so many people, and it's the middle of the school year, kids are feeling stress, they're feeling anxiety, they're feeling outrageous amounts of depression.

Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents

In fact, we are seeing that the rate of depression keeps growing in our kids. 

Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents

Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents: A Growing Concern

In 2018 and 2019, it was reported that 15% of our adolescents from 12 to 17 years old had major depressive episodes. And yes, that has grown exponentially since the pandemic has happened, and this is so. It's sad, but there's no wonder, like again, they've got the school pressures, they've got peer pressure, they're online looking at their screens, they're not getting outside in nature enough, and they're being fed absolute crap for food in the school systems, and often times in our homes as well, because that's the easy stuff, that's the quick stuff, that's the convenient stuff, right? 

The Role of Gut Health in Mental Well-being

And there's a direct correlation between the health of our gut  microbiome and our mental health as well. 

The Role of Herbs in Stress Management

Herbs for Nervous System Support

Herbal Remedies for Stress and Anxiety: An Overview

So, I wanted to create this episode for you and just talk about some things, some herbs that we can use to help support the nervous system. ease anxiety, lessen the stress load and other things along those lines.

We actually just did a deep dive inside of Apothecary Mama on this class. So I'll cover a little bit of it in today's episode and I really do hope that it helps you navigate the stressful times of life as well as helping your children feel a lot better. And before I get into it, Of course I have to mention that while I'm talking about herbs here and the ones I'm talking about are absolutely amazing.

No one herb is right for everybody. They aren't instant fix pills. 

Understanding the Root Cause of Anxiety and Depression

We really need to look at the root cause of the problem. What is causing this anxiety? What is causing this and depression? And we need to look at our children and ourselves as holistic human beings, right? We've got to go to the root.

We've got to solve the problem there. And once we make those lifestyle changes, which are often exercise, diet, and, you know, considering other factors that may be happening in school or the home that could contribute to depression or anxiety or anything along those lines. So all of that being said, yes, herbs are amazing.

So in this episode, I want to break it down to three main categories that I look. for when I start to think about helping somebody with anxiety, excess stress and depression.  

Understanding the Role of Nervine Herbs

Exploring Nervine Herbs

Understanding the Role of Nervine Herbs

And the first one are nervine herbs. And as the name sounds, these herbs just might be working on the nervous system. So we have relaxing or calming nervines.

We have tonifying nervenes that really support the nervous system and kind of nourish it for a long term duration and we have stimulating nervenes like coffee or even green tea can be a stimulating nervene. One of my favorite nerving herbs to support our kiddos and ourselves as well is what's called a nerving, it's a tropho restorative.

And what that means is that it helps restore the nervous system to its optimal function, even after major exhaustion and depletion. 

Exploring the Benefits of Milky Oat Tops and Chamomile

So, the first one is Milky Oat Tops, which is Avena sativa, it is the same plant that the breakfast cereal oatmeal comes from only we're talking about the seed pod tops they When they are fresh There's about a week long window in the summer when they are fresh and green and you can squeeze them And this white milky latex like substance comes out and that is where you get the truly powerful Tropha Restorative, Nourishing Properties for the Nervous System.

It's really truly amazing and just does a great job to build up the nervous system. And it's something that you want to take on a longterm duration. So it's, Unfortunate that there's only about a week long window to get them at the peak of their medicinal potency, but you can always source some from maybe you have a local herbalist or organic herb farmer who has grown these oats.

They make a great cover crop for all kinds of other farmers as well, so you can like hint hint, wink wink, nod nod at your farmer friends if you've got them.  And of course, you can also support other herbal companies that know when to harvest these milky oats at the prime time. The other cool thing about these is they're what's called a tonifying nervene, right?

They're a tonic. They build and support and strengthen and nourish the nervous system. And they're not sedating, so you can take them on this long term duration and they're not going to make you want to fall asleep in the middle of the class or driving your kids to school or something along those lines.

So it can be really, really beneficial for you and for your kiddos too. And then the other main nervine I wanted to talk about is chamomile, Matricaria recutita. There's various other species of chamomile as well that can work wonderfully. And this is one of my daughter's absolute favorites, which is perfect.

Ever since she was a little girl, like she was like one and a half, just barely toddling around. And she would always come out to my cup of tea and pull the chamomile flowers out of my tea and pop them in her mouth. So I always use. loose leaf tea because I like to look at how beautiful the plants are and know my medicine.

You know, like we all want to know our farmers and where our food comes from. I think it's really important to know your medicine and where your medicine comes from. So loose leaf teas are just beautiful and you're going to get a better quality tea out of it as well. So anyways, she has always loved.

I've always loved chamomile and over the years she's developed a relationship with it. Like anytime she is experiencing any kind of nervousness or anxiety, I can simply tell her that I'm going to make her a cup of tea and she automatically correlates that to me going to get her some chamomile and instantly calms down.

It's straight magic, like so beautiful to see. And most people know chamomile because it promotes a good night's sleep, right? But you can also use it just to calm the nerves and give that gentle hug in the middle of an anxiety attack if that's what you need. And there are so many medicinal properties to chamomile far beyond it being a nervine.

In fact, next month in January 2024,  it will be the herb of the month inside of the KidSafe Herb Club. So we're going to cover All the different ways you can use this one beautiful easy to grow herb as medicine in your family beyond the nervous system support. But since we're talking about nervous system and depression and anxiety, let's get back to that.

And if you want to dive into chamomile and its medicine, then join us in the Kids Save Herb Club. It's pretty fun. 

The Power of Antidepressant Herbs

So the next category I want to talk about are antidepressants and these are going to be herbs that help to uplift the spirits, they boost the mood, they can be really beneficial for someone that might just be feeling rather melancholic, actually.

And they can really Just be wonderful. And I will say that In all my years of using herbal medicine and trying different remedies and helping other people with herbs, the one thing that lifts my spirits and brightens my mood better than  anything in the world is simply taking a walk in nature. So if you can make that happen for you and your kids, that right there is better than any of the herbs.

I'm about to talk about. 

The Magic of Lemon Balm and Tulsi

And if you can't, or maybe you can, and you still want extra support, then we can turn to these herbs, like lemon balm. Melissa fishinalis, one of my absolute favorites because while I go by Mel, my name is Melissa, so it's kind of my namesake, and it's just a delicious herb. It's also known as nature's sunshine, so it's got this wonderful ability to uplift the spirits.

particularly during darker seasons of the year. So it's actually something that I recommend to some of my clients that may be dealing with seasonal affective disorder and it can work wonders. And it happens to be a very specifically safe herb for children, for teens, and for adults that are dealing with mild to moderate  It's very soothing for the nervous system, and it just does a really great job at reducing the feelings of stress and anxiety, it can help with stress related headaches, and it can even help you sleep better, which is really, really important, because if we are not sleeping well, then we are going to have more feelings of anxiety and stress. 

And as an extra bonus, we all know if you listen to my podcast that I think it's really important to make your herbal remedies taste great so your kids will take them. Lemon Balm's delicious! Bonus!  And the other great antidepressant herb I wanted to talk about that is also delicious is Tulsi or holy basil. 

Yes, an absolutely magnificent herb for so many different reasons and today of course we're talking about how it's wonderful for dealing with stress and anxiety and depression. It's actually been shown to completely counter the negative effects of stress and it will prevent elevated cortisol that happens when we have excessive stress.

This also happens to be an adaptogenic herb, which is our next category. It is a nervine, so it is directly acting on the nervous system and is really wonderful for boosting the mood, alleviating anxiety, and has even been shown in some lab studies to increase dopamine and serotonin levels in rats. So we've seen it in them and there is quite a bit of evidence outside of the lab that it does the same for us as humans.

So if you don't know, dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters that are really responsible for our mood and happiness and things along those lines. So to know that Tulsi  can increase those is pretty amazing. And again, it's It's delicious. 

Adaptogenic Herbs for Stress Management

Adaptogenic Herbs for Stress Management

Adaptogenic Herbs: Ashwagandha and Reishi Mushrooms

So this is another herb that I could talk about forever, but I want to get into the next category that's really helpful for our kiddos and those are adaptogenic herbs,  specifically ones that are going to support children and teens.

And adaptogenic herbs are herbs that help the body adapt to various stressors throughout life, whether they be mental, physical, spiritual, or emotional. They give this  level of protection against the long term effects of stress and it is known that adaptogenic herbs do work best when they are taken on a longer term duration.

So it's not like take an adaptogenic pill and everything's fine. It's like no, we want to take  There are a few out there that you want to take for like two to three months and then lay off for two to three months and all that, but we're not talking about those ones today.  Today I want to talk about one of my absolute personal favorite herbs out there and it's ashwagandha, which is in the nightshade family.

The Wonders of Ashwagandha and Reishi Mushrooms

So if you are allergic or intolerant to nightshade family plants, ashwagandha may not be for you and I'm sorry for that. But if you are allergic or intolerant to nightshade family plants, ashwagandha may not be for you and I'm sorry for that.  But, not only is ashwagandha an adaptogenic, helping us adapt to the various stressors in life, it's also a gentle nervine, and it does some wonderful work to restore the nervous system to healthy function.

So again, if you remember, I said that's a trophorestorative in fancy herb geek speak. And, ashwagandha does a great job at supporting adrenal function, it's got this gentle calming effect that can work wonders in reducing anxiety, and, Lowering hyperactivity, and it's been really showing some great signs to be really beneficial for those dealing with ADHD as well.

And when we're talking about using ashwagandha for the nervous system specifically, I use a tincture often. I make a big old batch of tincture every year. or every other year. But you can also take it with fatty things. So maybe a ghee or coconut milk, something along those lines. It helps with the bioavailability of all the great medicinal properties of ashwagandha, which are far beyond just the nervous system.

Again, are you noticing a trend in my podcast? Like all these herbs have so many different medicinal benefits to them beyond the one thing we're talking about, but.  I'll try and stay on topic here. And the other adaptogenic herb that is magnificent for you, for your kiddos too, are reishi mushrooms, so Ganoderma lucidum, also known as the elixir of life or the fungus of immortality, which is really referring to its ability to promote growth.

overall vitality and longevity. It's also like known as the immortal mushroom. Long ago, they considered like the wealthy, only the wealthy used reishi mushrooms in China. And It was said to make those wealthy people immortal and young forever. And our kids are young, right? That's their benefit in life right now, but these reishi mushrooms can support them really well also in calming their nervous system, reducing anxiety, promoting restful sleep.

There have actually been some studies done in China.  Where the participants were consuming reishi mushroom extract and over 90 percent of those people showed that their nervous system was significantly more calm and excitability was drastically reduced. There are so many medicinal benefits to this mushroom.

It's truly amazing. And when that happens, oftentimes what you'll see are greedy people trying to capitalize on the newfound knowledge, even though it's not newfound, people have been using reishi as mushroom for many, many, many, many centuries, thousands of years But what happens in our society today is that means people are going to go out and be like, Woohoo, I've got reishi mushroom extract.

And so many of these extracts are not extracted properly. They're not extracting the triterpenes. They're not extracting the polysaccharides.  So be aware. of who you are sourcing your medicinal mushroom extracts from. Some of the, my favorite ways to get reishi into our bodies in our home are to add them to soups and broths and to make hot cocoa.

So I like to do a hot cocoa with homemade coconut milk, raw cacao powder, and honey, and you can add in some reishi powder. Hopefully it's been done in the double extraction method that Make sure those triterpenes and polysaccharides are readily available.  But it's like a nice nourishing treat instead of something just sugar laden.

It's actually working to bring in antioxidants to the body and all kinds of antimicrobial properties from the honey and it's just delicious. So, That's it. I hope that this episode has helped you because stress and anxiety can be a major, major problem for not only us as parents, right? Like, hello, mom life is not easy. 

All the things we get to navigate will That's a whole nother like years worth of episode right there, but it's also a major problem for our kiddos, right? 

Lifestyle Factors and Coping Mechanisms for Stress

Lifestyle Factors and Root Causes of Anxiety

Lifestyle Factors and Root Causes of Anxiety and Depression

And we need to consider the lifestyle factors. Are they getting enough exercise? Are they going outside? How are they eating? Like are they eating heavily processed food like crap?

Because we need to get more unprocessed foods, like ditch the center aisles and go for the colorful, fresh produce. We also need to look at the root cause of the problem beyond that, like is there something triggering the anxiety? Are they being bullied in school? Are they failing at school and they're afraid to tell you are is there a separation going on in your home?

Is there instability? Like there are so many things that can lead to this and we can just teach them all kinds of coping mechanisms and skills and we can use these herbs as well to support them and their bodies, right?  

Workshop Invitation and Conclusion

Workshop Announcement and Closing Thoughts

Workshop Invitation and Closing Remarks

Also, if you want to dive deeper on this, I do have a workshop available. I'm going to be doing it live in early January, but don't worry if you are listening to this in late January, February, or two years from now, you can still access the workshop at theherbalistpath.

com forward slash all the herb things. And I will have that workshop available for you where we'll be talking in much greater depth about over 15 different herbs. I'll share many recipes that are tasty and palatable and really going to work to help ease the depression and anxiety. And you will walk away from that workshop really feeling confident and secure in your decisions of various herbs that are safe.

Safe for you, safe for your kiddos, and going to help battle anxiety and depression, right? Because no parent wants to see their kids depressed, right? We all want to see that sparkle in their eyes and the happiness in their soul.  COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH  Okay, so the link to that class will be in the show notes.

If you want to join me live, I'd love for you to be there. It's a great time to come by and ask your questions. And of course you can ask your questions and you'll become a part of the Herbalist's Path community if you sign up later. You can just post in the community and ask away.  I hope this episode is helpful for you.

I hope you're beginning to see the light. We've come through winter solstice. The days are going to get longer. The sun is going to shine brighter and soon more and more of our plant friends are going to be popping up. So I don't know about you, but that right there lifts my spirits out of any kind of depressed or sad or excessively stressed from the holidays kind of groove.

So I've been busy planning for 2024. I am so excited. I have so much more great content coming out for you to help you navigate the world of natural remedies for your family and do it in a  I can't wait and if this episode was good for you, I would so appreciate some reviews, if you wouldn't mind, that would be great, and be sure to share it with your friends so that we can make herbalism spread like wildflowers. 

Happy 2024!