Physical Activity and Mental Health

Physical activity doesn’t always mean exercise and going to the gym. There are loads of everyday tasks that we can do in the house which can help in keeping us physically active. Some examples are:

• Gardening
• Cleaning the house, hoovering, dusting, changing the beds
• Going up and down the stairs one extra time
• Putting the shopping or the dishes away.

Always think of safety when doing exercises.

The recommendation for exercise is 20-30min of moderate exercise per day. This, however, can be done in small ‘bite size’ activities of 5-10min which can be incorporated into your everyday routine. For example, you can stand up and sit down a couple of times while the adverts are on when you are watching tv or you can march on the spot while you are waiting for the kettle to boil in the kitchen.

Science also tells us that moving around throughout the day is better than doing 30min of exercise and then spending the rest of the day sitting down.

Having an ‘exercise buddy’ can help in keeping you motivated but can also provide an enjoyable social activity. You can join a local group (local area coordinators can provide you with information on what is running in your local community). You can get your family involved and set each other challenges.

How much is too much will be different for each person. This will depend on what you are able to do at the moment. In addition, things like pain and health conditions may lead to difficulties with some activities and exercises. Pacing and gradual exposure to activities can also be beneficial with chronic pain and anxiety. Some people have lived with pain for a long time. Other people get tired very easily because of a health condition. Life can follow a pattern of good days and bad days. On a good day, you want to get all those jobs done or go for a long walk but then find that later that day or the next day you are in a lot of pain and can’t move.  The idea of pacing is that you do some activity every day but not too much to reduce those bad days.

Pacing yourself means starting at a level that you can comfortably do and then slowly increasing the activity in manageable ‘bite sizes’. For example, if we take an activity such as walking and let’s say you can manage to walk for 5min once a week. You can start by building a routine and walking for 3 min once a week for a week. The next week you can walk for 4 min. If this increase has been comfortable then increase it to 2 days per week for 4 min the following week and so on until you reach a level that you can comfortably follow on both good and bad days. That way you are likely to have fewer bad days as you are not overloading yourself on a good day.

Making a list of the activity and how you have felt afterward will help you work out a routine and how much you can manage. It is advisable to have a goal that you are aiming to reach.

Set yourself goals that you can work towards. Make these goals relevant to what you want to achieve and also make them realistic. Setting goals that are unrealistic may cause you more stress and disappointment therefore, it is important that the goals are manageable.

In addition, if the goals you are setting are not relevant to what you want you are more likely to lose interest and motivation in carrying out the activity.

For example, if you can walk for 5min once a week it may be unrealistic to set a goal of running a marathon in 2 weeks. Especially if you have no interest in running in the first place!

You can start by making a list of what you would like to be able to do first then work around these goals to see what you can do to achieve them.

Choose activities which you enjoy doing. This could be dancing, gardening, singing, cycling, and playing with your children or grandchildren. Don’t be afraid to try new things.

Some forms of exercise can help more in managing stress and anxiety. Things like yoga and Tai chi work your muscles but can also help with breathing and relaxation. Both these types of exercises can be adapted to carry them out on the chair if standing or going on the floor is challenging for you. If you are not sure you can always consult a physiotherapist or an exercise professional who is qualified to give you such advice. You can speak to your GP who can give you further advice or signpost you to the appropriate services such as the National Exercise Referral Scheme.

There are many different reasons which contribute to people having falls and they can be common as we get older. However, just because we are getting older doesn’t necessarily mean that we should just accept that we will be falling. A lot of the reasons which contribute to falls can be changed and improved. Keeping active and exercising is one way to help reduce falls. If you are unsure or experiencing falls consult your GP or a physiotherapist.

Understanding the different types of services available and which ones might be right for you can sometimes be confusing.

• Swansea Council’s Local Area Coordination Team are there to help you find your way. Please click here to find out more.
• Social prescribing is a service connecting people to non-medical sources to improve their health and wellbeing. These could include activities, opportunities, or connections to community groups and voluntary organisations. For more information please click here.
• Neath Port Talbot Local Area Coordination. Your local area coordinator can help you find advice and support in your community. For more information please click here.
• Neath Port Talbot Social Prescribing Coordinator is someone who connects you to social activities and community support to help improve your health and wellbeing. Click below to find out more. For more information please click here.