“Of all the causes which conspire to render the life of man short and miserable, none have greater influence than the want of proper exercise."

- William Buchan.

The conversation around the benefits of fitness and physical activity on our physical health is loud, but the discussion around its positive impact on our mental wellbeing is a much quieter one.

Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, #MentalHealthAwarnessWeek is an annual event that provides the whole of the UK with the opportunity to focus on achieving good mental health, and this year’s theme is #ConnectWithNature.

In the Isle of Man, we’re spoiled for nature. How many people on the UK mainland can say they live a stone’s throw from a beach or plantation?

Nature has always been regarded as being central to both psychological and emotional wellbeing. Only in the last five generations or so have so many of us lived and worked in a context that is primarily separated from the natural world: it's only since a study in the 1960s that found patients recovered faster in hospitals with unspoiled views of nature that science has started to unpack its extraordinary health benefits.

It’s also been long regarded that physical activity promotes physiological and neurochemical responses that make us feel great, with our brains releasing endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin during exercise, the same chemicals which very often form part of most antidepressant medication.

Although the stigma surrounding mental illness has waned in recent times, the services that have been set up to provide assistance are still underfunded and at breaking point, and having first-hand experience of depression and anxiety, I know that the benefits of getting outdoors and being active can be just the tonic I needed to increase my mood.

There are countless ways that physical activity has a positive effect on our mental health – it boosts mood, improves sleep, and relieves stress, which are all factors that promote good mental health.

Just ten minutes of gentle exercise can have a short-term impact on the hippocampus (the brain structure that regulates mental health and cognitive conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia) and a much longer-term impact in just 12 weeks.

Yet despite one in four people experiencing a mental health illness and the above correlation between fitness and the easing of symptoms, many people remain inactive.

But being active and getting back to nature doesn’t mean going full throttle and cancelling all your plans for a countryside 5K. A gentle stroll through a plantation, a bike ride along the coastline, or even a spot of gardening will work wonders and help you to de-stress.

Be it our back garden, a local park, or a nearby beach, the opportunity to experience the boosting benefits of nature are everywhere. Even in town centres where nature can be harder to spot, there's so much we take for granted every day, such as flower boxes, bird song, and communal gardens.

I’m a huge advocate for fitness as a preventative measure for mental health, and with that said, it wouldn’t be a Mission blog without me gently nudging you to get outside and get some green exercise!

Green exercise is any physical activity or exercise that we do while being directly exposed to nature, and there is so much research that details how it positively affects psychological and physical wellbeing and health.

Whether you go it alone to take some me-time or with a group of mates, green exercise aims to enhance wellbeing while combining it with other purposes such as social contact, leisure, environmental education, or health promotion.

Another way green exercise can improve mental illness is its effect on our self-esteem: mastering new tasks, seeing positive changes in our body, and even meeting new people can have profound effects on our mental health, as there’s a chain of positive things happening that we may never have believed possible.

But it's essential to take it slowly and make sure our goals are achievable: we need to be proud of every step we take, and setting unrealistic milestones can have an adverse effect by presenting setbacks as failures.

Start small. If your exercise routine is non-existent, try to walk 1,000 steps a day with the aim of increasing it gradually over a set number of weeks. Use a pedometer app to keep you on track and set new targets yourself, but don’t be disheartened if you skip a day: life happens.

Starting with subtle but profound changes can work wonders for our mental health, and achieving something we thought was impossible, such as a 5K or consistently walking the government-recommended 10,000 steps a day, can prove to be a real turning point.

When we achieve something that our internal narrative has told us was both physically and mentally impossible, it forces us to challenge our own perceptions for the better.

Green Exercise: Combatting Mental Illness with Fitness and Nature