Moving for mental health
Young people share how movement makes an impact on both mind and body.
Young people today face growing inequalities in mental health and wellbeing. In 2020, we launched our Young Health Programme in the UK in partnership with AstraZeneca to improve the wellbeing of young people and their communities. The programme empowers young people to better their mental health through practices like the 5 steps to wellbeing.
We asked two youth advocates from the programme to share how they incorporate step 2 - getting active - into their routines. And the movements that make them feel better.
Reconsidering what counts as exercise
I’m Kate. I’m a Youth Mental Health Ambassador for Plan International UK working across Greater Manchester.
Mental health is everywhere: it affects how we feel about ourselves, the relationships we form with others, and the decisions we make about our lives, careers, and hobbies. So, it’s about time we gave our mental health the attention it deserves.
Research has shown movement to be beneficial for both our minds and bodies. But social norms around what counts as exercise, how a healthy body looks, and who can get involved can feel exclusionary.
Like many of us, I started running (and baking banana bread) during lockdown. I was more focused on beating boredom than getting mentally or physically healthy- and I felt pretty self-conscious doing it! The nagging thought that ‘progress’ looked like adding metres to the end of every run or shaving seconds off my pace quickly made running a chore rather than a hobby.
Unsurprisingly, my relentless running routine left me bored and burned-out. So, I stopped running for a while. I started going for walks instead and noticing nature along the way. Diversifying my exercise routine allowed me to focus on moving to feel good. That meant if I felt tired, I could rest or stretch rather than lacing up my running shoes. When I fancy a run now, I try to slow down and take notice of my surroundings, measuring the success of runs by how I feel at the end, rather than metres travelled or pace achieved.
Fast-forward four years, I’m super excited to be running the Manchester Half Marathon for charity!
Even with that, I still have wobbles. It’s round-the-clock work learning to reframe dominant ideas. But these small steps have helped me to exercise more mindfully and in ways that feel fulfilling.
Our motivations for movement and experiences of exercise are unique to each of us. When we reconsider what counts as movement, moving our bodies can begin to feel more accessible and joyful. And by celebrating the huge diversity of healthy bodies and the things they can do, we can create a more welcoming and inclusive space for newbies.
Dancing to build self-esteem
I’m Freya, a Neuroscience student at university in Nottingham. I hope to pursue mental health as a career.
I believe movement is important because it helps us to appreciate our bodies and what they can do.
My favourite form of movement is dancing because it’s something you can do no matter your abilities, alone or with others. In the past I have had dance lessons. At the moment, I am enjoying dancing alone in my room. I often find myself dancing when I’m sat at my desk and I’m supposed to be studying.
My goals around fitness are to do it more regularly and to pursue dance more. I dance when I feel like it, but that isn’t as regularly as I would like. I would like to join another dance group and learn new styles and meet people. I have found this quite intimidating though. I am unsure whether I am good enough to bother and I have struggled to find the right fit for me around my busy schedule.
My current plan is to go to the gym and focus on my endurance, so I can run for a bus if I need to. I am finding starting difficult though. I have to challenge the idea that I am too slow to even bother, as I can barely run for longer than a minute. But I have to start somewhere! I need to be better at giving myself credit for just going for a walk. That is a great form of movement that gets me outside and moves my legs.
Having struggled with self-esteem, moving and exercising really helped me become aware of my body and feel how much it is doing for me everyday. I am grateful to be able to move it the way I can. I have also experienced the positive impacts it has on my wellbeing as it is something I enjoy and that gets me up and out.
My goal is to keep trying and to acknowledge any fears but do it anyway.