Mental Health Matters

Mental Health Matters is here to provide you with weekly tips, resources, events, and methods to help you achieve better mental wellbeing and happiness.

Here is advice for using exercise to improve your mental health, from mentalhealth.org.

There are many benefits to physical activity– having a healthy heart and improving your joints and bones are just two, but physical activity is also beneficial for your mental health. We need to shift our perception on physical activity to see it as something more than just something we ‘have to do’, but instead as something that we do because we personally value its positive benefits to our wellbeing.

When deciding on a physical activity, ask yourself whether you would prefer being indoors or outdoors, individual or group activity, trying a sport you know or trying a new sport. If you’re put off by sporty exercises or feel uninspired at the thought of limiting yourself to just one activity, think outside the box; going on a walk, doing housework, and gardening are all physical activities too. Social support is also a great motivator, and sharing your experiences, goals and achievements with others will help you to keep focus and enthusiasm.

Here are 9 tips for physical activity:

1. Make time - What time do you have available for exercise? You may need to rejig commitments to make room for extra activities or choose something that fits into your busy schedule.
2. Be practical - Will you need support from friends and family to complete your chosen activities, or is there a chance your active lifestyle will have an impact on others in your life? Find out how much it will cost and, if necessary, what you can do to make it affordable.
3. Right for you - What kind of activity would suit you best? Think about what parts of your body you want to exercise and whether you’d prefer to be active at home or whether you fancy a change of scenery and would prefer to exercise in a different environment, indoors or outdoors.
4. Making it part of daily life - Adopting a more active lifestyle can be as simple as doing daily tasks more energetically or making small changes to your routine, such as walking up a flight of stairs.
5. Start slowly - If physical activity is new to you, it is best to build up your ability gradually. Focus on task goals, such as improving sport skills or stamina, rather than competition, and keep a record of your activity and review it to provide feedback on your progress. There are many apps and social networks accessible for free to help.
6. Goals - It’s really important to set goals to measure progress, which might motivate you. Try using a pedometer or an app on your smartphone to measure your speed and distance travelled or add on an extra stomach crunch or swim an extra length at the end of your session. Remember, you will not see improvement from physical conditioning every day. Making the regular commitment to doing physical activity is an achievement in itself, and every activity session can improve your mood.
7. At home - There are lots of activities you can do without leaving your front door that involve minimal cost. It can be as simple as pushing the mower with extra vigour, speeding up the housework, or doing an exercise DVD in the living room.
8. At work - Whether you’re on your feet, sat at a desk or sat behind the wheel during your working hours, there are many ways you can get more active. Try using the stairs for journeys fewer than four floors, walking or cycling a slightly longer route home, or using your lunch hour to take a brisk walk, do an exercise class or go for a swim. The change of scenery will do you good, too.
9. Out and about - Being outdoors is a prime time for boosting your activity levels, and research suggests that doing physical activity in an outdoor, ‘green’ environment has greater positive effects on wellbeing compared to physical activity indoors. Making small changes, from leaving the car at home for short journeys or getting off the bus a stop earlier, to higher-intensity activities like joining in with your children’s football game or jogging with the dog, can help to boost your mood.