Exercise can cut risk of depression by a third, says Mental Health Foundation CEO
By Dev Trehan
Last Updated: 10/05/17 8:57am
Mental Health Foundation CEO Jenny Edwards says exercise can play a big part in staving off depression.
The Mental Health Foundation is behind the Mental Health Awareness Week initiative which aims to shed the stigma around the topic and focus people's minds on improving their own well-being.
Research conducted by the Mental Health Foundation shows that 70 per cent of women have experienced mental health problems and Edwards believes partaking in exercise can help overcome such issues.
"Evidence shows that if we do two-and-a-half hours of brisk exercise every week we can cut our chances of depression by a third, which is really significant," she told Tuesday's Sportswomen show on Sky Sports News HQ.
"Also [exercise] can be mood changing. If we are feeling anxious, or if we are feeling listless, we know that if we go and do something active we can feel quite different on the other side of it.
"Being with people who care about us and we care about and just having fun, can [also help] break us out of a cycle of our minds being stuck thinking about our worries. We can come back and see things in a fresh light."
Women are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than men, according to the Mental Health Foundation's report Surviving or Thriving? The state of the UK's mental health.
"We've found that around the world," Edwards explained.
"What we've found is women are often more likely to be worried about other people perhaps than men. That extra caring that we take on is what can make us more susceptible to mental health problems."
The study quizzed 2000 Brits on the state of their mental well-being.
Just 13 per cent of those surveyed described their mental health as 'highly positive', and two in five believe they have experienced depression in their lives.
In response to these findings, the Mental Health Foundation is calling for the introduction of a "100 per cent health" screen - incorporating mental health screening into existing health screening programmes so that mental health conditions are spotted and treated before they become acute.
They are also calling for a Royal Commission to investigate the solutions to prevent mental ill health, with a focus on reducing risk, along with a report on the nation's mental health every year.
Edwards added: "With two in three of us experiencing a mental health problem in our lives, we need to respond to this public health emergency with a Thriving Nation programme. That's why we're calling for a Royal Commission to investigate the solutions to prevent mental ill health.
"We also want an annual report on the nation's mental health to go to parliament. We need to track the state of the nation's mental health, so that the government can take actions to tackle the main problems and report back on their success.
"The success of our society cannot and should not solely be measured in GDP, but the health of its citizens."
