Exercise and Mental Health
The Hiking Physio, Tim Liggat shares a few motivational words in his latest Youtube video about exercise and mental health while hiking a munro called Glas Maol in the Scottish Highlands.
Lockdown Lows
Maintaining your mental health during the National Lockdown has been difficult – more isolation, more challenges at work and more stress at home.
The world as we know it has changed.
We are being asked to stay at home rather than meet up with friends and family.
School life has been flipped upside down – no longer are we getting paper handouts – now it’s all on Google classroom.
Children are losing out on their extra curricular activities. Kids are going through a period in their life when they have to learn how to figure out emotions via eyebrow movements rather than smiles.
Parents are being asked to home school their children.
Long gone are the sit down board meetings – welcome to the new world of zoom meetings.
It’s a big worry that our mental health will suffer because of these changes.
More depression, more anxiety and more stress.
Despite these difficulties. These massive changes. We still have each other. We have the ability to communicate via video calls. We can send elderly parents videos of their grandchildren. We can talk through closed windows with vulnerable family members in care homes.
Adapting to change
As a human race we have this amazing ability to adapt in difficult circumastances.
So as we enter another lockdown – as we go through these winter months, with shorter days and less social contact – remember that there is always someone willing to listen to whatever you want to chat about. Don’t feel alone – lift up the phone, pick up the pen, walk up the road and share your worries and anxieties with someone.
Exercise as therapy
If you feel up to it consider the benefits of movement for your mental health. There are so many benefits to getting up and moving. When you’re feeling down, when you have depression, anxiety or stress, it can be the last thing you’d ever want to consider. Finding motivation when you’re in a downward spiral is difficult. But the benefits from exericse is really very significant.
More on the topic of exercise and mental health to come in the next blog post when Tim talks with hosts John and Adam from the Scottish podcast Different Not Broken – a podcast dedicated to raising awareness about disability and mental health. https://differentnotbroken.buzzsprout.com/1343485
If you are struggling with your mental health and haven’t spoken to a health professional like a GP then please consider making contact with them.
Tim@advancephysio
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