Movement and Mental Health

This week has been mental health awareness week.

This year they are focusing on the benefits of movement for our mental health.

We all know about the benefits of exercise on our physical health but what can do it for our mental health?

Take out the feel-good endorphins that come along with exercise because let’s be honest some people just fucking hate exercise.

Daily movement can have such an impact on our mental health with improvements to.

Improved mood

Reduced Anxiety

Lower Stress Levels

Lower Inflammation

Increased Memory and Concentration

Increased Confidence

Improved Sleep

Better Social Connectiveness

Now, it doesn’t even have to be 60 minutes of hard exercise, even just 15 minutes of daily movement has been shown to have the benefits above.

It doesn’t even have to be planned exercise, just getting outside for a walk doing something that makes you move instead of sitting will help those benefits come through.

Movement should be available to everyone, and to a certain extent it is, but people tend to see daily movement and read exercise class or gym.

Then because of whatever their circumstances are they don’t get involved and that is perfectly fine because that is the way it is.

However, there is always a way, yes a gym can be expensive but have a Google as a lot of councils will put on classes, etc for either free or a heavily reduced rate.

But get on the local social groups as there are always local walking groups or running groups etc that you could get involved in and do it for free but also have that group environment and support network.

Taking care of our mental health isn’t a luxury, if we can take care of that then taking care of the physical side of things becomes easier, if you are in a better place head wise then taking control of the other stuff becomes a little easier.

So, do something for you.

Do something for your head.

It doesn’t have to be a big exercise routine or gym visits etc, that will come if you want it too but the most important thing to be doing is moving, this time of the year is the best time to start building these habits.

The nights are lighter, it’s a bit warmer, get these habits started now and it will be easier when the winter comes.

Be kind to you.

Spend time clearing your head, it will make the rest of your life a lot easier.

Some tips of moving more.

Find Moments for everyday movement – we can find ourselves sitting or standing around a lot, using that dead time to move a bit, brushing your teeth, and waiting for the kettle to boil, little bits.

Set small achievable goals – don’t go balls deep straight away, slowly take yourself into this especially if you have not been doing anything in the meantime. By setting small goals you have more of a chance of achieving them and then seeing and becoming more positive with them.

Take a break from sitting – a lot of you out there reading this probably sit down a lot for work, sat at a desk for quite a lot of the day, take breaks get up and move around, set an alarm just get up and get moving, at the end of the day make sure you spend some time stretching out as well.

Find the fun – remember what it was like as a kid, you constantly were moving and doing something you enjoyed, kicking a ball around, riding a bike you just did it because it was fun, why should we lose that because we got older, kick a ball around with your kids if you have them, do something that makes you smile, it doesn’t matter what it is.

Connect with others – as I mentioned earlier get involved in groups where you have that connection and support to keep you going.

Remember the following though, movement is different for everyone, so don’t compare your movement to others.

It’s just movement and doing something daily will help you not just physically but also will improve your mental health.

Don’t know where to start, are in a rut, and need help getting out of it, drop me a message, and let’s have a chat.