Today, Blue Monday, is the most depressing day of the year. That sentence was equally depressing, so let’s find reasons to cheer up and turn that frown upside down.
In all seriousness, depression affects up to 350 million people worldwide and one in five adults in the UK alone. It is also of course only one of a vast area that is mental illness, which is why everyone should be doing their upmost to lend a helping hand.
Men’s Running’s wants to make you aware that exercise is really helpful for mental illness and mild depression.
Here are the stats, and they are medically proven: people who do regular physical activity have up to a 30% lower risk of depression and dementia.
So what counts as physical activity? There are two types; moderate-intensity aerobic activity, which is such things as walking fast and cycling. The other, is vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, which is such things as running and playing singles tennis.
Providing you are an adult (19 – 65, by the NHS guidelines) you should be doing 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or in our case, running.
This should also be done alongside muscle-strengthening exercises on all major muscle groups two or more days a week.
If you can run a 5K in half an hour, that’s two and a half a week, that’s easily manageable, right guys?
We just need to motivate ourselves to get out there, it’s only doing good.
If you need help on how to fit in your runs, see here.
For more information on mental health and depression, click the links.
