Alanis Morissette on battling depression: running and marijuana help
It’s probably not a big shocker that singer Alanis Morissette suffers from bouts of depression. Her music and lyrics provide a pretty transparent window into her struggles, don’t they? Alanis addressed her problems with depression in a recent interview, and her methods of battling it might be a bit unorthodox: lots of running, lots of kale, and the occasional joint and glass of red wine.
Alanis Morissette struggled with depression her whole life, but recently, she found an effective antidote: running.
Morissette, 35, tells Runner’s World that “running has made being depressed impossible. If I’m going through something emotional and just go outside for a run, you can rest assured I’ll come back with clarity.”
The Grammy-winning singer, who has run two marathons, tries to live a healthy lifestyle, including eating lots of kale. But she still occasionally indulges “in red wine, and it’s fun to have medical marijuana once in a while,” she says. “I still party and include a little debauchery.”
Always an active athlete – Morissette says she was once a “hard core” swimmer who trained seven days a week – she sometimes struggles with the motivation to run. “But I tie my laces, put on a tight bra and get out there like a little robot. The first 10 minutes are excruciating, but soon I get into the flow.”
Morissette ran the two marathons for charity and did November’s New York City Marathon with Edward Norton on behalf of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. In October, she did the Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon through Lassen National Forest in California, representing the National Eating Disorders Association.
“I struggled with eating disorders, especially in my teens,” she says, “but I’ve noticed when I treat my body like an instrument instead of an ornament, my relationship with food completely changes.’
I have a lot of admiration for runners. I’ve tried it, I hated it, so I stick with lower-impact forms of exercise like power walking or swimming. And of course, my favorite: napping. I have friends who rave about marathon training, but that kind of thing would definitely get in the way of my wine drinking/chocolate eating regimen. But from what Alanis says, perhaps you can train like a fiend and still carve out a little naughty time in your life. What I want to know is, how does one procure this medical marijuana for depression? I know that folks with glaucoma and even cancer patients can get it, but I never knew that people with clinical depression were able to. Can someone fill me in on this? Not for me, of course….for a friend. Anyway, it sounds like Alanis is in a really good place in her life these days. I know she was in hiding for a while there after her breakup with Ryan Reynolds, but she seems like she is way over him now.
Alanis Morissette at the Environmental Media Awards in LA on October 25, 2009. Credit: WENN.
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