Promoting mental health

Get active

Regular physical activity can be an enjoyable way to improve your physical and mental health and your overall wellbeing. Studies have shown that regular exercise can relieve many of the symptoms of mental illness, in particular depression and anxiety. It releases stress and boosts confidence.

Exercising outside can be especially beneficial as fresh air and the natural environment refresh, relax and calm the body and mind. Exercise can be fun, helping you to meet new people and learn new skills. If you’re new to exercise, try swimming, walking or gardening. Set yourself goals and keep a note of your progress, so you’ll appreciate how far you’ve progressed.

Regular activity can: 

• help you prevent and manage conditions such as diabetes, obesity and coronary heart disease
• reduce your chance of having a stroke or developing osteoporosis, colon cancer or breast cancer
• reduce your risk of high blood pressure
• improve your blood cholesterol profile
• protect against the development of lower back pain

Regular physical activity can promote wellbeing in many ways. It:

• improves sleeping habits
• makes you feel more energetic
• helps older adults maintain their independence
• helps people to prevent and manage stress, anxiety and depression.

How much activity is best?

Adults of all ages should aim to build up to at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on 5 or more days of the week.

The good news is this 30 minutes can be broken down into smaller chunks such as 2 x 15 minutes or 3 x 10 minutes.

Although the benefits are well established, it can still be a struggle to fit physical activity into our daily lives. LEAP (Local Exercise Action Pilot) is a government drive to encourage people to take more activity. The project is jointly funded by the Department of Health, the Countryside Agency and Sport England. The project aims to show people that activity can be a simple and fun part of everyday living.

Here are LEAP’s helpful tips to help you get started:

• choose an activity that you enjoy and that fits into your lifestyle
• plan a time that fits around your usual routine. Will you do something in the morning, lunchtime or at night?
• start slowly and build up. Go at your own pace
• set some goals
• try a new activity if you are becoming bored
• set some new goals if the routine has been broken
• use breaks like holidays to be active in different ways
• remember that physical activity can help beat the barriers of tiredness and stress

LEAP offers free professional advice on how to make simple changes. They can help you to get started or inspire you to go a step further. For more information on the project, see the Wandsworth PCT website. Alternatively, they can post you more information free of charge: call 020 8682 6786 or email leap@nhs.net.

For more information on the LEAP project, contact:

Liz Kellow on 020 86826786 or leap@nhs.net

Ted Poulter on 079 9052 6534 or edward.poulter@swlondon.nhs.uk

Exercise classes in Wandsworth

There are a wide variety of classes available locally to help you get fit. For an idea of what’s going on in Wandsworth, see the Wandsworth PCT website.

Fit for Life in Kingston

Kingston Primary Care Trust has launched a Fit for Life programme to encourage those at high risk of heart disease to get fit. See the Kingston PCT website for details.

Useful links

Mind have put together a guide to physical activity offering more detail on the sort of exercise which can be beneficial. Mind’s Guide to Physical Activity.