Would you exercise more if you knew how much it improved your mental health?

Exercise doesn’t all have to be about sweaty gym machines, 6am starts and competing for 10K steps a day.

After experiencing the benefits of exercise on her own mental health, Psychology Hallam student Aimee Browes set up the Happiness Bootcamp. :banana:

The Happiness Bootcamp is a project creating happiness and mental health awareness through fitness classes, such as Pop-Pilates- a sweaty, core building and high intensity workout. :dumbells:

Aimee: “What’s so rewarding is knowing that people that are coming along are in the situation that I was before. It’s so lovely seeing people leaving my classes and feeling better about themselves.”

My advice is find something you really enjoy doing, and something you find fun, so it doesn’t really FEEL like you are exercising. Zumba is a good one for this - my mum and I used to go and we motivated each other. Zumba boosts my mood, reduces my stress levels and helps me focus.

What exercise do you like doing? How do you fit exercise in around your studies? Do you find exercise improves your mental health- if it does how?

Reply 1

xoxAngel_Kxox

21

I know exercise improves my mental health, but at the moment my mental health isn't good enough to give me the motivation to exercise. Vicious circle.

Reply 2

hello_shawn

19

I found my solace in cycling. I have a desk job therefore saw no use in lifting heavy stuff. It also meant not having to endure the nightmare of trying and failing at the gym

Reply 3

the bear

20

just walking for 20 minutes a day can make a great difference to your health.

OP

Thanks for commenting guys! Yeah I try to walk to work and find it helps me to focus more in the day.

OP

Original post by xoxAngel_Kxox

I know exercise improves my mental health, but at the moment my mental health isn't good enough to give me the motivation to exercise. Vicious circle.

Yeah I totally understand this. When I'm feeling really down and can't get the motivation I can go one of two ways. Either I just go outside where it's cool and walk... which sometimes leads me to really stomping around and getting my anger out. Or I'll sit and do a calming yoga video which allows me to just sit down for 20 minutes but still move my body. Even if I don't do much, I feel that tiny bit better afterwards because I think OK I achieved something.

Laura

Reply 6

1secondsofvamps

22

I loved the gym and did actually find it quite good for my mental health.
Only downside was that my gym contract had ended and i couldn't afford to renew it because it was so expensive.
Exercises like walking or going for a run just isn't the same and doesnt really work for me.

OP

Original post by hello_shawn

I found my solace in cycling. I have a desk job therefore saw no use in lifting heavy stuff. It also meant not having to endure the nightmare of trying and failing at the gym

That's good. Where do you go cycling? What do you like about it?

Original post by 1secondsofvamps

I loved the gym and did actually find it quite good for my mental health.
Only downside was that my gym contract had ended and i couldn't afford to renew it because it was so expensive.
Exercises like walking or going for a run just isn't the same and doesnt really work for me.

Can you find a cheaper gym? In what ways did it help your mental health?

Do you have a gym buddy or can you motivate yourself to go?

Thanks for posting
Bridget

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 8

Tene

3

I’d rather lie down and meditate and cut out bad eating habits- too lazy to go to the gym

(edited 5 years ago)

OP

Ah fair enough. Yeah it's good to have that support and encouragement. What do you mean by spotting during some exercises?

OP

Original post by Tene

I’d rather lie down and meditate and cut out bad eating habits- too lazy to go to the gym

Meditation is great- I love it. Do you use headspace?

Reply 11

ChaoticButterfly

20

Me trying to escape depression.

No.

It's not about "knowing", most people know that exercise and a well balanced diet is good for you. It's about summoning the willpower to do it.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 14

Pathway

20

I know it could help theoretically, but due to my physical disability it would probably cause more problems than it'd help.

Reply 15

Nahaha

13

Running works wonders for my mental health.

Well, I say that - it lifted me out of depression but then it became negative when I got anorexia...life's fun. I'm looking forward to being healthy enough to start running again though, because it improves my mood so much.

Reply 16

Pathway

20

Original post by Nahaha

Running works wonders for my mental health.

Well, I say that - it lifted me out of depression but then it became negative when I got anorexia...life's fun. I'm looking forward to being healthy enough to start running again though, because it improves my mood so much.

I was also gonna say this, I get quite obsessive when I do exercise (much to my body and mind's detriment). It just seems to feed my AN.

Good luck with your recovery.

Reply 17

hello_shawn

19

Original post by hallamstudents

That's good. Where do you go cycling? What do you like about it?

Can you find a cheaper gym? In what ways did it help your mental health?

Do you have a gym buddy or can you motivate yourself to go?

Thanks for posting
Bridget

I cycle to work! Though it takes 45 minutes I'm never tired at the end of the commute, I find it helps me concentrate. Plus, I've mapped a good cycling route that avoids the busy roads so that I'm never stuck in traffic or swerving to avoid collisions. It's better than being stressed and worried about being late when the train's delayed or cancelled.

OP

Original post by Princepieman

It's not about "knowing", most people know that exercise and a well balanced diet is good for you. It's about summoning the willpower to do it.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Absolutely. Do you have any advice on summoning that will power? I often say 'OK I'll start tomorrow, or next Monday' and with every week that comes and passes I feel more and more guilty :frown:

It's tough. Sometimes I think just setting up a yoga mat at night so I get up and sit on it in the morning works and can help me do even a tiny bit. But that's why I think fitness classes can be really great, because if you book in advance, you just need to turn up. (Harder said than done, I know) but at least you don't have to think about the exercises you're doing. You just do what the instructor says.

Laura

OP

Original post by hello_shawn

I cycle to work! Though it takes 45 minutes I'm never tired at the end of the commute, I find it helps me concentrate. Plus, I've mapped a good cycling route that avoids the busy roads so that I'm never stuck in traffic or swerving to avoid collisions. It's better than being stressed and worried about being late when the train's delayed or cancelled.

Yessss making it part of your commute is such a good idea. I used to cycle to work and it's like you don't have to do any forced exercise afterwards or think about the gym or anything later when you're tired and want to relax.

Laura

Would you exercise more if you knew how much it improved your mental health?

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