What can improve your mental health?

I am sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that there has been a huge increase in the focus on mental health over the last couple of years.  So I wanted to share with you the results and conclusions of the largest study carried out here in the uk to help people with mental health issues.

The Get Set To Go program started in 2015 was funded by the national lottery and supported by Sport England.  The study had 3,585 participants, of these 1,000 particpants progess was actively tracked.  This makes it the largest study of its kind to assit people with mental health issues to get physically active.

A report by the Mind Charity,  two years into the project concluded that:

  • Physical activity plays an important role in building resilience.
  • Physical activity plays an important role in mental healty recovery.
  • People who are physically active on a regular basis are more likely to experience better wellbeing.

Finally, given the grey skys and cold weather outside, I would just like to remind readers that regular physical activity has been shown to:

  • Reducing the risk of depression by up to 30%.
  • Lifting mood.
  • Improving self-esteem

So the short answer to my question, “what can improve your mental health?” –  is physical activity!

References

Full Mind Report on the Get Set To Go program https://mind.org.uk/GSTGresults

Department of Health (2011), Start Active, Stay Active. Available here:

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