Movement and Mental Health

by Pete Wright

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

Remove the feel-good endorphins that come along with exercise because let’s be honest some people just really hate exercise. Daily movement can have such an impact on our mental health with improvements too.

• Improved mood

• Reduced Anxiety

• Lower Stress Levels

• Lower Inflammation

• Increased Memory

• Improved Concentration

• Increased Confidence

• Improved Sleep

• Better Social Connections

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 a 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, because let’s be honest going into a gym surrounded by budgies and gym bunnies can be intimidating, 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.

Also, you can get on the local social groups as there are always walking or running groups 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 just becomes a little easier, life gets better.

It doesn’t have to be a big exercise routine or gym visits, you can always get round to that at some point 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.

Some tips on 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 our teeth, and waiting for the kettle to boil, little bits.

Set small achievable goals – slowly take yourself into this especially if you have not been doing any exercise for a while, no point going full on and then having to stop because you’ve got injured or everything hurts too much. By setting small goals you have more of a chance of achieving them and then 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. If you are sitting there thinking “what are you on about why should I stretch?”, look at your pet or someone’s pet, the first thing they do when they move is stretch.

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.

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!

foxdengym.co.uk