Running and Mental Health

Running and Mental Health – Hypnotherapy Vlog:

I’m delighted to have been asked to write about my own mental health and running story for the awesome people at https://www.runmyworld.co.uk/. There’s a whole mass of evidence supporting exercise and running for helping treat mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. Exercise has anti-depressant effects and may also work in a preventative way for your mental health. Running and exercise have always been a huge part of my life, in the past to help me when I struggled with anxiety and low self-esteem, and now to help me deal with life challenges and to support a healthy mind and body. Do go and check out and sign up to the challenges over at https://www.runmyworld.co.uk/ and make running a part of supporting your own mental health.

Click on the image to watch the video here:

Running and Mental Health

Hello. It’s Dan here today. I hope you’re good. Now this week I’ve been writing around mental health and running and exercise. I’ve been writing a guest blog for a wonderful, new virtual running company called runmyworld.co.uk based over in Suffolk. They’re the guys who already run the Suffolk Running Centre. I’ve done a couple of their races, kind of pre-Covid, hoping to do some more body allowing. At the moment I’ve got this annoying knee problem where I bruised it, which is perhaps the worst injury to tell anyone, I can’t run because I’ve bruised my knee. It doesn’t sound that great does it. But thankfully it’s on the mend and a wonderful guy over at Derby Cottage Clinic, Guy there has been working on it and this morning I went for a four-mile run and, touch wood, all good so far.

So I’ve been writing about my own experiences because I got into running really as a way of dealing with the anxiety, the low self esteem, all those issues I used to suffer with way back. It was my way of getting all that tension, all that adrenaline, all that frustration, all that anxiety out by being physically active, giving the adrenaline attention, getting my muscles doing something but also a chance to just get away from stuff, to process things in my mind, because I used to over-think, I used to feel anxious, I used to have worst case scenarios in my mind, used to worry about being judged by people, used to have all that kind of stuff, dwelling on stuff, being self critical, thinking there was something wrong with me, judging myself harshly even, even in the absence of other people judging me. All those perceptions, all those beliefs, all those expectations, I needed an outlet for that stuff. And running turned into that, and I found that, from running, I would just feel better, I would feel physically better, I would feel mentally better, and it would help me deal with all the other stuff that was going on inside of my head each day.

And the great thing about these virtual races and these challenges that runmyworld.co.uk are organising its that a percentage of their proceeds go to mental health organisations which is fantastic. We know exercise and mental health, they go together. All the research, and there is masses of research that shows it, shows that exercise has an antidepressant effect, it helps our mental health, it improves our well-being, it helps alleviate symptoms of things like depression and stress, and anxiety. It is a positive thing to do if you’re struggling with mental health issues as part of your treatment plan and the kind of stuff you’re doing to help yourself feel better.

It really should be part of the things you’re doing, being active, whether that is running, whether it’s going from 0-5K and doing one of those programmes. Whether it’s something longer, whether it’s a different form of exercise, all the research, like I say, and personal experience shows that it is good for your mental health and has that antidepressant effect. But not only that, the research demonstrates that it has a kind of preventative factor to it in that being active, and exercising and running helps prevent mental health issues, it keeps you mentally healthy, which is a great thing because that is kind of how I use running these days and other forms of exercise. They’re my way of distressing of any challenges that come along, just having time away from them, a way of boosting how I feel in myself, a way of just dealing with the normal day-to-day kind of stuff that we all experience.

So it has a dual purpose, it’s just a good thing to be doing for your mental health, whether it’s dealing with stuff that you’re already experiencing as part of your treatment for that, whether it’s just to keep yourself feeling physically and mentally healthy. We could even digress and go into all the physical benefits that show that having better fitness reduces the risk of a whole range of physical ailments striking. Again, it’s good for your body, it’s good for your mind. Like I say, that’s how I’ve used it through my life. It’s how I use it now to deal with anything that might be going on, or just to keep me feeling better in myself. I just feel physically better, I get that boost, that well-being, but there are a whole range of things that go with it as well. You get to a goal set, you get to set yourself challenging goals and achieve them. You put your mind towards those things, you have a focus, almost like a bit of a sense of purpose, if you like, you get a sense of achievement when you hit those goals and from improving and getting better at stuff.

But certainly from the mental health point of view, I would check out runmyworld.co.uk. Have a look at some of the challenges they’re starting to put in place, knowing that you’re doing good for your own mental health, but also some of those proceeds are going to go to helping other people with mental health issues as well. I’m super excited about getting involved in some of their challenges. I’m very proud and pleased to have written for them and hopefully that will be appearing soon.

I’m always happy to share my own journey with mental health stuff and, like I say, even if you don’t want to rely just on the kind of positives that I share about it. Two of my favourite things – running and mental health. Why wouldn’t I love writing about that, or talking about it now even, I could probably talk for several hours but I’m not going to do that.

All the research shows it’s good for your mental health, good for your well-being, has a preventative measure as well. It’s just a good thing to do physically and mentally and you’ll feel better for it. Check out the challenges they’ve got and the new ones they’re putting into place. I think at the moment, from a quick glance, they’ve got things from 5K upwards. All of us can pretty much achieve that with a bit of training, a bit of dedication, a bit of time and effort. And, like I say, the positive results that come, the kind of buzz from setting yourself a goal and achieving it, even with all the mental health stuff, all the physical benefits, it really is a great thing and I would encourage you to take a look and get involved in that stuff. Do it for your mental health. Excellent. I’m going to keep icing my knee and hopefully I’ll be back running tomorrow and I hope you’ll be out there too. And you take care of yourself and I will speak to you very soon. Bye now.

Dan Regan

21 September 2020

Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

You can read my mental health and running blog over on the Run My World website here: Run My World Blog

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