We thought it would be apt, as this week is the week of Sport Relief and today is Wellbeing Wednesday, to talk about the link between being active and mental health and wellbeing.
We shared a post earlier in the year that looked at the importance of walking for wellbeing and the significant impacts that this can have for your mental health. This fact from Walking for Health shows the significance that something as simple as walking can have:
“It improves self-perception and self-esteem, mood and sleep quality, and it reduces stress, anxiety and fatigue. Physically active people have up to a 30% reduced risk of becoming depressed, and staying active helps those who are depressed recover.”
But if you’re in a bit of a physical activity lull or you don’t have the capacity to even think about it right now, how can you get started? Mental health charity, Mind, have created this video highlighting five simple ways to get moving and feel better:
In fact, we love the section about physical activity and mental health on their website. It provides simple-to-follow advice, recognises that physical activity isn’t easy to engage with when you are struggling with mental health issues and supports you to access physical activity when you may have various barriers that can get in the way of us choosing to be physically active – finance, self-esteem, confidence, body consciousness. If any of these are barriers for you, head to this page to see what they suggest.
Are you someone who is regularly physically active and understands the benefits that it has for your mental health? What does that look like for you?
Would you like to start being more physically active? What would you like to do?
I have recently started running again. I say again because back when I was university I ran a half marathon. In recent years I looked back on that and thought ‘I don’t know how I did that. I could never do that again.’ Since having my second child at the beginning of 2019, I have lost a couple of stone and having achieved that, I now believe that if I wanted to I could. This year I’ve committed to doing the Couch to 5K, and just this week I agreed to run the Sheffield 10K with a friend. I’m taking longer than I should be to do the Couch to 5K because fitting in regular runs around the kids and evenings full of activities isn’t always easy to do but I can now confidently say that I look forward to my runs. They are head space for me, in the mental load that is motherhood. They are self-care in that they give me time for me; to listen to a podcast; to smile as I listen to my favourite songs. On the days where the kids and I have grumped at each other all day long, it lifts my mood. When I feel mentally overloaded, it brings me peace. Ask me a year ago if I’d be running a 10K in 2020 and I’d have laughed at you. But today, I am feeling committed to running for my mental and physical health, and because I believe I can do it.
What one step could you take today to be physically active, in order to benefit your mental health?