Ever been on a diet and found it tough to stick to? Perhaps you’ve tried cutting out food groups or restricting calories but found it a struggle to sustain and reach your goals. Mindful eating could be the answer.

Dr Romi Ran is a clinical psychologist specializing in food, eating and body image, who champions a compassionate approach to food in Bite-Sized Peace: Change How You Eat, Accept Your Body, Transform Your Life. Mindfulness is proven to help with mental health, and, according to Ran, mindful eating can help fix your dieting problems—in fact, it can change your relationship with food entirely.

What’s the secret to eating mindfully?

“The most important thing of all is to learn to make this connection with your body's innate wisdom,” says Ran. “Your body knows what, how much and when to eat. Rather than relying on external diet rules, societal norms, or even your thoughts, learn how to listen and trust your body’s signals. If you do that, you’ll find it will tell you what it needs.”

Ran shares an example. If it’s 11 o’clock and you’re hungry but lunchtime for you is usually at 1 o’clock, it’s OK to eat now. The idea is to eat when you’re hungry, choose foods that nourish you and make you feel good, and then stop when you’re full, even if that means leaving food on your plate.

Ran’s book, Bite-Sized Peace contains exercises to help you listen to your body’s signals. She suggests developing a hunger scale, where for example:

• Five is neutral, not hungry or distracted by food;
• Four is starting to get hungry or feeling like a snack;
• Three is craving specific food, losing focus on other activities;
• Two is getting irritable, stomach growling, craving exact dishes;
• One is when you would eat anything, you’re starting to panic about getting food;
• Zero is feeling dizzy, sick or faint with hunger and almost going off food. 

Ran suggests spending a couple of weeks tuning into your hunger at different levels and working out what hunger cues feel like for you. This enables you to recognize the perfect level of hunger when eating feels most satisfying and enjoyable, and when you’re less likely to overeat.

“Mindful eating can help you become aware of how different foods will affect your mood, how they will affect your energy levels, and how they can make you feel physically, mentally and emotionally,” says Ran.

“Your whole relationship with food, your body and eating will change if you really nurture that connection with your body’s innate wisdom and let that guide you rather than following external cues,” says Ran.

Will I lose weight?

“The best approach is to set value-based aims rather than goal-based ones,” says Ran. A goal-based aim might be losing 15 pounds, for example. “That is driven by fear and thinking that you’re not good enough, that you need to change yourself.” A value-based approach on the other hand would be something like, ‘I want to start nourishing my body better’.

“Now that’s compassionate, that’s coming from a place of love, from feeling worthy,” says Ran. “It says ‘I deserve to eat good, nourishing food that makes my body feel well and satisfies me’. The emphasis is completely different. One is about changing and the other is about being.”

You may well find that you lose weight with this approach. But in shifting your focus from slimming to improving your health and wellbeing, coupled with kindness and self-acceptance, you may also find that you no longer care about the number on the scale because your whole outlook has changed for the better.

Everyone knows exercise is good for your physical health, and there’s now a lot of research showing how sports like running can improve your mental health. However, it’s more surprising to see evidence that exercise can also make you smarter.

That’s what the results of Asics’ Mind Games experiment suggest. The study, developed and led by clinical physiotherapist Professor Brendon Stubbs, invited competitive gamers from a range of disciplines to take part in an exercise programme, and after four months the gamers showed dramatic improvements in several areas.

Their cognitive function was boosted by 10% on average, with their problem-solving abilities improving by 9% and their processing speed and alertness improving by 10%, translating into improved results in their sports. The group also enjoyed increased confidence and concentration levels, with their anxiety dropping.

Keen to find out more about what the gamers did in their exercise programme, we spoke to the coach who created it, Andrew Kastor.

How did you structure the exercise programme?

I created three different levels of 16-week training programmes for the Mind Gamers to follow.  Each of the plans had a very gentle approach in adaptation to exercise stimulus. The easiest of the aerobic training programs started off with just 10 minutes of walking on day one and gradually worked up to 150 minutes of aerobic activity by week 14 of the programme.

The hardest programme started off with 20-30 minutes of walking three to four days per week and progressed to approximately 200-plus minutes of aerobic exercise per week.  

At the onset of the training programme, each participant performed two physical tests, the 12-minute Cooper Run/Walk and a max push-up test, then they repeated the tests at eight and 16 weeks to mark their progress.

What areas did you focus on in particular?

Many of the strength and stretching exercises that I prescribed focused on improving posture. My guess was that most of the Mind Gamers were weak in these areas, especially if they were self-proclaimed “sedentary”. My goal was to emphasise stretching the hip flexors and quadriceps muscles, along with the pectoralis or chest muscles and strengthen the rhomboids or upper-back muscles to help with postural strength, which in turn leads to better oxygenation of every system of the body as respiration is unhindered.

Any exercise or movement that improves posture, I believe, will improve cognitive function.  Also, constancy with a sound, well-rounded training programme, I feel will improve cognitive function in everyone.

How intense was the exercise involved?

My goal for each of the three plans I created was to be very conservative and focus on staying in the aerobic heart rate zone (50-65% of your maximum heart rate) as I believed this was best practice for more than 75% of the participants to follow.  

My primary concern was to keep all 77 participants healthy so that they could complete the study and make physical activity a part of their lifestyle long after the study was over. Many of the Asics Frontrunners [a community of running enthusiasts] and coaches involved found that their participants were progressing faster than the plan and consulted with me on how to progress them out of the aerobic-only training. Quite a few of the participants started interval training and during their workouts entered into the upper threshold zone (75-85% of their maximum heart rate) of training.

A documentary about Mind Games is streaming on Amazon Prime now.  

With the group stage almost over and the business end of the World Cup coming into view, you may be dreading nerve-racking 90 minutes after nerve-racking 90 minutes, or planning to hide behind the sofa to avoid the stress of watching penalties. 

Why do we put ourselves through it? One reason is that there’s a level of stress that can be exciting. There’s even a term for this, eustress, and it’s a concept that can help you change how you face stress outside of watching sport.

What is eustress?

“Eu is just ‘good’ in Ancient Greek, so it’s basically good stress,” says Brendan Street, a cognitive behavioural therapist and head of charity at Nuffield Health.

“When you talk about stress, you think about negative stress, but some stress can be good for us. There’s something called the Yerkes-Dodson law. You’ve got performance and arousal, and there’s a bell-shaped curve that says that if you’ve got too much stress, then your performance depletes and you move into distress. If you’ve got too little stress, then you don’t perform at all because you’re bored. There’s a Goldilocks zone in the middle, which is eustress.” 

Experts who have looked at how stress affects the body have shown how it can be a beneficial influence, but also how too much of it leads to health problems in the long term.

“A stress response is also referred to as ‘fight or flight’,” says Street. “When you perceive a threat, it’s that physiological response that gets you out of the way [of danger]. A short, sharp release of adrenaline, and a release of cortisol, which is the main stress hormone, increases your heart rate, increases your breathing rate and directs blood away from your extremities to your internal organs, so you’re ready to react. 

“Another thing that cortisol does is it makes your blood stickier, so it coagulates quickly. That’s why your blood pressure goes up – sticky blood is more difficult to pump – but in the short term, if you get injured you don’t bleed to death.

“That reaction isn’t bad for us, but if you’re constantly stressed, and you’re constantly releasing adrenaline and cortisol, that’s like revving the car all the time. Long-term stress can cause strokes, heart disease, increased diabetes, increased obesity, anxiety, depression.”

How people seek out eustress

There are some sources of stress that will generally lead to eustress for most of us, and one of them is following your favourite sports team.

“Think about the World Cup, or a football match in general,” says Street. “The psychological impact of a football match is short-lived, and generally eustress is what people experience. Though that can depend on whether you win or lose, and the caveat is that it’s not good for everybody, because instances of domestic abuse go up in major football tournaments.”

If football isn’t for you, there are other common sources of eustress that many of us seek out, but the same stressors don’t work for everyone. It’s all about perception and what you’re looking for from the experience.

“That’s what people who go into extreme sports are seeking,” says Street. “Horror films too. You’re looking for that peak, that adrenaline release. But if you’re forced on to a roller coaster or to watch a horror film and you hate them, it would tip over into distress.”

The same is true of exercise, which can be one of the regular sources of eustress for lots of people, but when you first start exercising the challenge of it can make it unpleasantly stressful.

“Exercise is a good source of eustress,” says Street. “But if you’re not used to it or ready for that, then exercise can tip into distress. You perceive the pain as a stressor and that kicks off the more intensive stress, but generally the reason most people keep going back to exercise is because you get that adrenaline kick.”

Changing how you respond to stress

How you think about stress is central to how it affects your body, so it can be beneficial to get away from the idea that stress is just a bad thing.

“There are stressors and a stress reaction, but a stressor doesn’t necessarily need to cause a stress reaction,” says Street. “And then if it does, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a negative stress reaction. It’s about perception. Something is only a threat when you perceive it as a threat.” 

Catching yourself when you respond to challenging situations with negative thoughts about yourself and turning them into helpful thoughts will help from eustress tipping into distress as well. For instance, Street suggests thinking: “I can find ways around this, I’ve got other resources and other people that can support me”.

As well as your frame of mind, there are other ways to put yourself in the best possible position to face stress.

“A lot of it comes down to the basic things that we all know we need to do,” says Street. “Like eating well, avoiding too much booze and caffeine, and taking time sometimes to just sit and relax. 

“Think about your values as well. I really value being a dad, so I make sure I get some time with my daughter because that’s the thing I value, and that’s when I’m going to revitalise and recharge myself. Often we get stuck in a stressful job and that’s what we do all the time. We never recharge.

“Exercise is key. There’s a massive connection with physical activity. So 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, or 75 minutes of more intensive exercise. If you’re not getting enough exercise and you do experience something challenging, then you’re more likely to skip eustress and go straight to distress.”

Domestic abuse helplines can be found through the UK Government’s domestic abuse: how to get help webpage.

More Stories To Help You Manage Stress

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• How To Use Positive Thinking To Manage Stress
• Are You Stress Eating During The COVID-19 Pandemic?
• How To Recognise Stress Drinking And What To Do About It

Body transformation before-and-after images are a regular occurrence on Instagram and in health and fitness publications – even, on rare occasions, in this one.

For World Mental Health Day, dancer and Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse has taken part in the Dramatic Transformation campaign from Asics, which tries to shift the focus of the before-and-after photo away from aesthetic change. The “after” shot is taken at the end of 15 minutes and nine seconds of exercise, the amount of time it takes to generate a mental uplift – according to research overseen by Coach favourite Professor Brendon Stubbs (we spoke to him about running and mental health and the relationship between the two is truly astounding).

“The culture of ‘body transformation’ images, driven largely through social media, has conditioned society to view exercise through the lens of physical change,” says Gary Raucher of Asics EMEA. “Committing to this cause, ASICS EMEA will not post exercise transformation pictures that focus purely on aesthetic transformation on its channels. This also has the support of our 500-plus ASICS FrontRunner community with an audience of millions. The community is committed to only sharing images that reflect the uplifting feeling movement brings: the powerful mental and emotional impact of exercise on the whole self – body and mind.”

Mabuse has been joined in the campaign by A&E doctor and TV personality Dr Alex George, as well as former model and UN Women UK ambassador Jada Sezer. 

“I have been on a real journey with exercise and the reasons why I do it,” says George. “When I was younger, I really used exercise as a weapon, to try and look thin, to look a certain way. When I went on Love Island a few years later, I was overtraining, and it wasn’t good for my mental health. Now, I’ve changed the way I view exercise and it’s really helped my mental health. I move for my mind, rather than to look a certain way.”

If that resonates with you, it may well be worth accessing resources through the charity Mind, which collaborated with Asics on the project. Earlier this year we spoke to Hayley Jarvis, head of physical activity at Mind, about how overexercising can be bad for your mental health, which you may also find useful. 

“It’s great that Asics is challenging the use of body transformation pictures,” says Sezer, “because for me it’s never been about a physical transformation, more of a mental transformation. If I feel good mentally, then I’ve achieved my goal. ‘No pain, no gain’ has never resonated with me. It’s always been about how it makes me feel, not look, and I’m proud to be part of a campaign that represents this.”

While it’s true to say that most of us could benefit from being more active, both for our physical and mental health, it’s also possible to do too much, especially if you’re not building regular rest days into your routine.

New research from mental health charity Mind suggests that some people are not taking their rest as seriously as they should be. One in six of those surveyed (18%) said they exercised despite being unwell or injured, and fewer than two-thirds of active people (59%) reported building rest days into their routine.

We spoke to Hayley Jarvis, head of physical activity for Mind, about the importance of making sure you don’t overexercise, and how to find a balance so your exercise improves your mental health rather than becoming a burden.

Why is it important to include rest as part of your exercise routine?

The benefits of physical activity for people’s mental health are well established, such as reducing the risk of depression by 30%, and it should be one of the first treatments for mild or moderate depression.

• How Group Exercise Can Help With Moderate Depression
• It’s Astounding How Much Running Can Improve Your Mental Health

We know most people aren’t active enough, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Rest days allow the body and the mind to recover, support good-quality sleep and allow the muscles to repair. They can also increase our focus and motivation, and boost our energy levels. 

There are two types of rest – full rest or active rest, where you’re doing lighter-intensity physical activities or switching up your routine on your off days. We think rest days aren’t talked about enough, certainly for the grassroots. Elite athletes always build in rest to their routine.

What factors lead people to overexercise?

It’s something we’ve seen during the pandemic in particular. When we were in lockdown it was the only reason that we could leave our house, so some people were staying out for longer and doing more physical activity. Access to usual sources of support when services either went online or stopped, in many cases. 

There was also no access to friends and family, and a lack of accountability. When we’re seeing people all the time and perhaps going to the gym or seeing our running friends, people might say, “We’re worried about you, we think you’re doing a bit much”.

There’s also interplay between certain mental health problems and overexercising. We know people with eating problems are almost four times as likely to develop an unhealthy relationship with physical activity. There’s also a link with addiction. So people who may have had an alcohol or gambling addiction may then substitute one addiction for another, particularly if they’ve not addressed the underlying issues and their mental health problem in the first place. 

Also we live in an age of social media and there’s that narrative about “stronger, leaner, faster” – almost glorifying doing more and more.

How can you identify if you’re overexercising?

With overexercising, you’re thinking about exercising for too long or too intensely, without enough rest. When you can’t stop exercising without being worried or distressed, that is a sign that something might be going on.

Concerns arise when it’s affecting your job, or your relationships, and people are saying that they’re worried that you do that too much. When you don’t take breaks – when you’re feeling tired, or when you’re injured or unwell, and you’re dragging yourself out there when you probably know it’s not the best thing for you. Also when you’re going hard or far every day or several times a day. Some of the experts I spoke to were talking about people exercising during TV ad breaks and finding excuses constantly to be active. 

I’m a huge advocate for physical activity, but it’s about trying to make sure it’s not the sole thing in somebody’s life.

• How To Avoid Overtraining

How can you make rest days more of a priority?

Having other interests and hobbies is key, whether it’s reading, meditation, photography… Or do things related to your body, like getting a massage or foam rolling. Think about active rest if you’re not ready to stop completely. So walking, yoga, stretching – something that’s lower-impact. Perhaps connect with other people that you don’t have time to see normally.

What we’re trying to do is gain that healthy balance. When exercise is your only coping strategy, if you get injured you’ll be left bereft.

How much exercise should you aim to do?

A Lancet report from 2018 found that people who exercised for 45 minutes three to five times a week had fewer incidences of mental ill health than those that did either more or less. I think there is going to be more research about what the sweet spot is, because obviously too little is a massive issue for most people. I spend most of my life saying, “Get active, it's good for your mental health”, but it’s clear too much can be detrimental as well.

Do you have any other advice on how to balance exercise and rest?

Coaches have a huge role, and I think helping people to identify why they’re active, and to find the love and then the enjoyment of it, is key. Realistic goals are also really important for people. A training plan should include rest days and also encourage other activities, like cross-training and stretching. Aim to get that balance and connect with others as well. Remember it should be fun, and not always a chore.

Towards the end of last year, England’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) proposed new guidelines for treating less severe depression, and one of the treatment options given to try was group exercise.

Of course, group exercise is no magic pill (although the positive effect running can have on mental health surprised us). So we turned to Niamh Maguire, director of therapies at the Priory Group, to find out how group exercise may help, what its limitations are and how to access it as treatment. 

Experts from the Priory Group have helped to create mental health app My Possible Self (available from the App Store and Google Play), which uses cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques to help people manage common mental health conditions like depression, and includes advice on exercise.

How can group exercise help treat moderate depression?

We know with exercise there’s research on how it can support reducing some of the symptoms of depression, like low mood, low motivation, lack of energy. 

Where group exercise becomes particularly interesting is around that involvement with other people. Depression is an isolating disorder, and the group supports a person to be more engaged and socialise with others. 

So as well as the benefit of actually doing exercise, bringing in those endorphins and targeting symptoms of low mood and low energy, the group aspect will help that sense of aloneness.

Another benefit of attending group exercise classes is that individuals can observe other people’s progress. Depression is partly about low motivation, and being surrounded by others and seeing their progress can really motivate people and help with the management of their own depression. Obviously, it can also be hard to see other people progressing, but in general we know that being around others and seeing their progress can be a strong motivating factor.

Do you have advice for people who are intimidated by the idea of going to group classes?

I think all group leaders, particularly if the individuals go into a programme specifically for people who are struggling with their mental health, will be able to welcome them and give that encouragement. 

But it’s important to manage their expectations of themselves. I think that’s key, because with depression, often you can either have such low expectations you struggle to go in the first place, or you can have unrealistic high expectations of yourself. 

With exercise, that could be expecting yourself to be where you used to be. Somebody who used to be in the gym all the time and is depressed now may expect themselves to be able to last the whole session, or even to be the fittest in the class. It’s really important that they manage their expectations. Maybe that’s just to get to the classes, or to do 20 minutes out of the 40. Have small, achievable expectations, and then review them once you’ve achieved them.

How can you find group classes?

There’s a GP referral scheme. Your GP can refer individuals to local gyms that have specific PT advisors who will give them a programme. It’ll be access to an individual programme, but it will also be access to group classes. Obviously, people can also use the gyms that they’re connected to, depending on their circumstances.

If you do prefer to exercise alone, can you still get benefits?

There are a lot of benefits to group exercise, but we also know that with depression, there can be a poorer uptake to group interventions, whether that’s group exercise, or group therapy. It can be a harder thing to get people to engage in. So individual programmes and individual ways that people can engage with things are necessary and crucial here. 

We talked about feeling intimidated but also with depression, people sometimes cannot go. They’re not at that stage to be able to get to those group programmes. Or it could be geographical reasons – people can be in the countryside and don’t have a local leisure centre. Or they might have a physical thing that doesn’t allow them. And so the ability to be able to do online videos and home-based exercises is quite crucial. It might not be a group environment, but exercise in that environment will really help increase someone’s mood, and release those endorphins.

With My Possible Self, there are series where individuals are guided the whole way through to engage with various types of exercises.

You don’t have very much interest or pleasure when you’re depressed and so it’s key that the activity is short, simple and of some interest to you. Otherwise, you’re less likely to do it.

How much exercise should you do?

NICE recommends 30 minutes a day of exercise, but what’s key to highlight is that not only is it about the type of exercise and finding something that works for you, but it’s also about starting with what’s manageable for you. If you start with 10 minutes, and build up over time to 30 minutes a day, you’re going to get more and more benefits from it. It’s about starting somewhere. If you do 10 minutes, you get a lot of endorphins and you get a sense of achievement, which then motivates you to do the extra 10 minutes, until you get to the recommended 30 minutes a day, and anything after that is a bonus.

My Possible Self is a free NHS endorsed mental health app

Expert advice and detailed information about a range of mental health conditions and what you can do to try and treat them. We’ve spoken to doctors and other mental health experts about depression, anxiety, seasonal affective disorder, stress eating and drinking, and many other topics to try and help you identify any conditions you might be dealing with and where to turn if you need help.

If you’re not already aware, there is an NHS apps library which highlights health and wellbeing apps that meet its clinical and technical standards. It’s the place to find apps that can really help to improve your life, and helps you separate the wheat from the chaff in an overloaded apps market.

One app that meets the NHS standard is My Possible Self (App Store and Google Play), which has been created with input from the experts at independent mental healthcare provider the Priory Group. The free app uses cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques to help people manage common mental health conditions like stress and anxiety.

To mark World Mental Health Day 2021 on Sunday 10th October, My Possible Self is expanding what it offers to include a wide range of new content, including workout videos, mindfulness classes and recipes.

We spoke to Joe McEvoy, director of innovation and digital at the Priory Group and a CBT therapist, about the CBT techniques that underpin the app and how it can help people.

What is CBT and how is it used in the app?

Traditionally CBT is a talking therapy that helps you manage your problems by changing the way that you think. It has a really solid evidence base behind it, which dates right back to the 1950s. With the app we’ve created what we call modules on things like managing anxiety and depression. They follow a similar sequence to the way CBT works, which gets you to assess the thoughts you’re having and identify patterns. It then gives you a set of tools to help you change the way in which those less-than-helpful ways of thinking impact upon your life.

There’s a whole lot of evidence-based practice behind it, with tried-and-tested tools and techniques. We built it with My Possible Self providing the technology, and we provided the clinical input so that all of the tools, techniques and assessments are as you might experience if you were in talking therapy with a therapist.

Will this help people access this kind of therapy?

Absolutely. The app is free to everybody, whether they’re in this country or around the world. We know that a lot of people can’t access services through the NHS because of waiting lists and some of the challenges that the NHS has and we know that not everybody can come to the Priory because they can’t afford it. So this is a really great opportunity for people to be able to access something that’s free which does much of what CBT therapy does.

As an example of the tools in the app and how they help, can you explain the “reframing thoughts” tool?

The reframing thoughts tool is effectively an opportunity for people to put down thoughts which might bother them. A thought such as “I’m a really bad person” or “I must be really bad at my job”, whatever it might be – negative thoughts. People can get into a vicious cycle around thinking these thoughts, and not be able to get away from them, which then impacts upon their feelings.

The reframing thoughts tool effectively invites the individual to engage in a number of things. One of the important things is to ask: what’s the evidence for this? Let’s write down what the evidence is for me being a bad person. Maybe somebody told me that, or lots of people told me that. Am I doing bad things? Then we say, “How can we reframe that thought in a different way?”

A natural reframing of something like that might be that “I feel bad about myself at times”, rather than “I am a bad person”. It’s working to break down some of those thoughts that feel overwhelming. When you can break them down into smaller parts, you can start to reframe them in different ways that make them positive. A lot of CBT is about “if you can’t find the evidence for this, then try and find a different way of thinking about it, try and find ways to be kinder to yourself”. Because ultimately, very few of us are actually bad people.

See related

• Here’s How To Tell If You Should See A Doctor About Your Mental Health
• How To Recognise When Someone Is Struggling With Their Mental Health
• Look After Your Mental Health With This Five-Day Plan For Minimising Stress

Can it help break the cycle of negative thoughts?

Exactly. And the thing about thoughts is, they are just thoughts. They’re not things. But what we do quite naturally is, when we think something, we often think it again. And the more we keep thinking it, the more prominent it becomes, and then it starts to lead to feelings.

So if I’m constantly thinking that I’m a bad person, I start to feel like I’m a bad person, then I start to feel upset or anxious or depressed, or whatever else it might be. It’s about breaking that cycle that we can all get into.

In recent years there have been claims that seasonal affective disorder (SAD) could be a myth – one 2016 study in particular provoked a slew of headlines to that effect. So you can be forgiven for thinking there might be some debate around whether SAD is a clinical condition. But when we double-checked with Dr Arun Thiyagarajan, UK medical director for health clinics at Bupa UK, his reply was clear.

“SAD was first coined as a medical condition back in 1984,” says Thiyagarajan. “Research into the condition is still ongoing, but in the UK the condition is recognised clinically as a form of depression, and treatments are available to combat it.”

So SAD is real, and it’s not something that you should take lightly if you think you are suffering from it, in the same way you wouldn’t dismiss any form of depression or mental illness. We asked Thiyagaraja for more information about what SAD is, what can cause it and how it can be treated.

What is SAD?

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that tends to hit at about the same time each year – usually around autumn or winter, but it can happen in the summer months, too.

There are many forms of depression and SAD is just one of them, though the unique thing about it is it only affects some people at certain times of the year. People who suffer with it may feel like themselves during other seasons but find depressive symptoms develop at the same time each year.

SAD’s symptoms include low mood and a lack of interest in things you usually enjoy. You might feel like you can’t get up in the morning because you don’t have any energy, but then you can’t drift off to sleep when you go to bed. SAD can cause changes to your appetite, leaving you craving stodgy carbohydrates and sugary snacks. Difficulty socialising is another symptom – you might feel like you just want to stay in and shut out the world.

What causes SAD?

Although research is still ongoing, the general consensus is that there are a number of external factors that can affect mood, and for some people, this can lead to SAD.

Some of the external factors thought to have a bearing on the development of the condition include light, disruption to your body clock, levels of melatonin [a hormone which affects sleep patterns], the weather and temperature. Light triggers your brain to regulate key elements affecting your mood and wellbeing, including sleep, appetite, sex drive, melatonin levels and temperature. It appears that some people may need specific amounts of light to regulate these factors sufficiently, meaning they’re more vulnerable to developing SAD.

Can you make lifestyle changes to treat SAD?

As SAD research is still in the early stages, no definitive cure has been established yet. However, you can help to manage your symptoms by speaking to your GP and making some simple lifestyle changes.

If your SAD affects you during the winter months, although it might be difficult, it can be really useful to go outside and get some sun on your skin. This will help you to get a vitamin D hit, even if the sun’s behind clouds, and boost your mood. Make sure you let sunlight into your home and working environment during the day and sit close to windows when you can.

Exercise is a great way to help your mood with endorphins, mood-boosting hormones that can help to fight depressive feelings. You could make a walk or run with a friend a regular scheduled activity – this way you get both the benefit of exercising and socialising, two key elements of good wellbeing.

Another way you can help yourself is to make sure your body’s getting all the nutrients it needs to keep you fit and healthy. It can be useful to batch-cook and freeze healthy meals so you can pick these out of the freezer when you’re feeling low on energy – and avoid bingeing on the carbohydrates and sugars you’re craving.

See related 

• The Best Vitamin D Supplements And Vitamin D Explained
• Winter Running: Gear And Tips For Runners Who Don’t Get On With The Treadmill
• How To Master Meal Prep

When should you go and see a doctor about SAD?

If you find that your low mood recurs at the same time each year, you should book an appointment with your GP. They may be able to suggest treatments that can help alleviate SAD’s symptoms, like antidepressants or cognitive behavioural therapy.

Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety can have devastating effects on your life, but it’s still not always easy to speak to a medical professional about them. Whether that’s because you struggle to recognise the condition, or simply don’t feel confident about going to speak to a doctor about your mental health, a lot of people end up suffering in silence.

A good first step, as frontline NHS doctor Emeka Okorocha explains, is talking to people you trust and discussing how you’re feeling. They can help you get assistance from professionals, which can make a world of difference.

“It’s extremely important to go [and seek help], because chronic conditions always have a better prognosis if caught early,” says Okorocha. “Anxiety and depression get worse as they progress. If you’re digging a hole, the more you dig the harder it is going to be for us to fill in that hole. If you’ve only dug three spadefuls, we can fill in three spadefuls in a short space of time. But a lot of people keep digging and before you know it it’s been years.

“When it’s been years, your lifestyle, habits and thinking are different. Changing all of that takes time and work. It does happen, but it will perhaps take just as long to get you back to normal. If you’re noticing these signs, come see us earlier rather than later, when you have cemented habits and a way of thinking.”

We spoke to Okorocha, who is an ambassador for home workout app Freeletics, for more information on what to look out for, and what you can expect when you do go and visit a doctor.

What are the symptoms you should look out for?

There are a few red flags. One is distancing yourself – if you’re not engaged in activities with your friends, not seeing your family, and find yourself alone most of the time. Alone not just in the physical sense, but also no communication. No calls, no texts. When you find yourself alone with your thoughts, that’s when it gets very dangerous.

Another thing is lack of interest in activities. We call this anhedonia. Stuff that you would have liked before, like going out with mates, watching football, going shopping. You don’t do that any more. You just don’t have the urge or desire to do it.

Sleep patterns are a big one. A lot of people suffering from depression or anxiety find it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep. Early morning waking is something we look for and we look at a span of two weeks at least and see if it’s not triggered by any personal acute life changes. If you have just had a bereavement and you’re very low, we wouldn’t class that as chronic depression, because that’s a life event which has a normal trigger and a normal social response. However, with depression there’s not an obvious trigger. It can just happen and people often don’t understand why.

Another thing is a lack of eating. People who are suffering depression have a poor diet. And chronic illness is another risk factor for depression. If you have a chronic illness you’re suffering with, that can get you low.

Those are the kind of things we look for. Changes in personality, changes in behaviour, and changes in sleeping and eating, without any obvious triggers.

What should you do when you first spot these signs?

I tell people to try not to focus on the stigma, but on how you’re feeling. You don’t need to go telling people “I’m depressed” – people don’t want to be labelled. Open up about how you’re feeling to the people closest to you. Speak more about your symptoms and what you’re experiencing, rather than saying, “I might have depression or anxiety”. Just getting that out, and talking to someone about how you’re feeling can make you feel better. The people closest to you can give you advice, and also watch out for these trigger signs.

It’s sometimes difficult to come to a doctor’s surgery and talk about it. It can feel very daunting to book an appointment. It’s easier to talk to people around you, the loved ones you speak to every day. They can give advice, or even flag it up to the doctor and go with you. Obviously with COVID protocols that’s difficult, but they can help set it up.

What can you expect at an appointment with a doctor?

The doctor is basically going to ask you a lot of questions. Generally we don’t need to run blood tests, or do X-rays or scans – although sometimes we do, because a lot of these symptoms can be masking a chronic disease such as underactive thyroid disease, say if you’ve been feeling very lethargic or gaining a lot of weight. We also know depression is linked with Parkinson’s disease and early onset Alzheimer’s.

We aim to exclude all the medical clinical diagnoses, and after that we will ask questions. Everyone who has been to medical school will know the questions to ask. Based on the answers they’ll be able to say when a person may have depression, or anxiety. From there the doctor will talk about lifestyle management before you go on any treatment. If there are any triggers, the doctor will suggest a lot of stuff. Usually there will be follow-up consultations.

We prefer to leave medication as a last resort. There are a number of different things we can try, like cognitive behavioural therapy and behavioural group therapy, before going on medication. When you are on medication it is quite difficult to get off. It’s not something you can start and stop like antibiotics.

See related 

• How To Cope With COVID-19 Anxiety According To A NHS Psychiatrist
• The Every Mind Matters Campaign Can Help With Your Mental Wellbeing During COVID-19
• Are You Stress Eating During The COVID-19 Pandemic?

If you don’t have a great relationship with your doctor, where else can you get help?

A lot of people find it difficult to get an appointment with their GP, and not everyone has a great relationship with their GP. It’s very difficult to see someone else once you’re assigned to a GP in your practice. And some people don’t have the time, or don’t want to be stigmatised. But there are loads of organisations you can contact. If you go on the NHS website there are links to organisations like Mind.

How can exercise help your mental health?

I’ve been advocating exercise as a therapy to combat depression. During lockdown, when a lot of us haven’t had access to gyms, I’ve been doing a lot of home workouts, which I found really good for me, for my energy and keeping my mental health up. I’ve been encouraging others to do the same.

A lot of my colleagues have struggled with mental health over the past year. There were a lot of dark months, especially when we were working during the second wave in winter time. At the end of a day, I didn’t want to think about COVID or work, and what helped me get over it was exercise. I always loved team games, but we didn’t have access to any of that, so I needed to find a way to keep active and get my mind off what we were seeing at work. I started doing a lot of home workouts. I got the resistance bands like everyone else! It kept me fit, for one, plus it kept my mind active and busy, and not thinking about the terrible things we were seeing at work.

Even if you haven’t experienced any major signs of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s every chance something is bubbling away under the surface. That’s why it’s wise to take steps to look after your mental health.

The NHS’s Every Mind Matters campaign is designed to help on that front, providing guidance on maintaining your general mental health, as well as specific advice if you are suffering from anxiety.

We spoke to NHS psychiatrist Dr Max Pemberton, who is working with the Every Mind Matters campaign, for tips on how to get started.

Have you observed that people are suffering anxiety related to the pandemic?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have certainly noticed that people are suffering higher levels of anxiety. In fact, a new survey commissioned by Public Health England found that a significant proportion (46%) of the population said they had been experiencing more anxiety since the pandemic began.

However, three in five (60%) of those asked did say they feel hopeful about the future and many adults (75%) reported that they are planning to take or have taken steps to look after their mental wellbeing, which is really great to see.

What are common symptoms of anxiety?

Anxiety can present itself in a number of different ways, but the key signs can include feeling tired, on edge, restless or irritable. Feeling a sense of dread, or being unable to concentrate or make decisions may also be experienced, as well as having trouble sleeping, and feeling sick, dizzy, sweaty or short of breath. These feelings can affect people’s day-to-day lives and result in them avoiding situations or putting off doing things they may be worried about.

What can you do to deal with anxiety?

It’s important to remember that currently, it is normal to feel anxious, worried or stressed. However, there are many things we can do to help take care of our mental health and wellbeing during these uncertain times.

Firstly, it is really important to stay connected. Maintaining healthy relationships with the people we trust is important for our mental wellbeing. Sharing your thoughts and concerns with someone can make such a difference, in a way which you might not immediately realise. Even if you aren’t currently suffering from any problems, speaking openly about mental health may help others to.

It is also very important to look after your body, as our physical health has a big impact on how we feel. Try to eat healthy meals and exercise regularly.

Too much information on the pandemic can be overwhelming, so try to limit time spent watching the news or on social media. You can also help manage your worries about what is going on in the world by sticking to the facts and using trustworthy sources of information, such as the NHS website or gov.uk/coronavirus.

You can also head to the Every Mind Matters website, which has more information and advice to help you manage your mental wellbeing during the pandemic.

See related

• The Every Mind Matters Campaign Can Help With Your Mental Wellbeing During COVID-19
• How To Support Your Child’s Mental Health During The Pandemic
• Struggling With Your Sleep During The Pandemic? You’re Not Alone, And This Advice Can Help

A lot of people might be feeling overwhelmed at the general situation. Do you have advice on how to deal with that?

On the whole, the coronavirus outbreak makes us feel stressed, worried, sad or frustrated. We just need to remember that it is OK to feel like this and that these difficult feelings will pass. It is also vital to remember that there are things that we can do to take care of our mental health and these will help.

There are a number of tips that people can use to deal with feeling overwhelmed by the current situation. Try to follow a daily routine, give yourself a break and do something that makes you happy, go out for a walk in the fresh air and make sure you get enough sleep.

Again, the Every Mind Matters website has a range of other steps that you can take to help you manage feelings of anxiety or being overwhelmed.

While most people start running for the physical benefits of the sport, it can also be hugely beneficial for your mental health. A study on 14,000 people undertaken by Asics during the pandemic has found that 82% of UK runners say running helps to clear their mind, and 78% feel more sane and in control as a result of running.

As regular runners ourselves, we were keen to find out where the science stands on the mental health benefits of the sport. We spoke to Dr Brendon Stubbs from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London for more information on the research being done in this area, including some exciting new studies being carried out in partnership with Asics.

How does running help your mental health?

There is really good evidence that running can improve our mental health and protect us from various mental health conditions. Whenever you’re running, you get this great increase in electrical activity in key areas of the brain that are essential for processing emotions and helping consolidate memories from the short and the long term. One area we’ve been looking at in scans of people who engage in aerobic activity like running is the hippocampus. The hippocampus is really important for emotional processing. If you look at conditions like dementia, cognitive impairment or even depression, this area of the brain shrinks.

It’s been shown time and time again that in the medium term – 12 to 16 weeks – you can get increases in volume of the hippocampus through running, but also in the short term, after just ten minutes, you can get a real spike in electrical activity in this emotion-processing area of the brain.

Recently in younger people we’ve also found that running results in this great increase in activity in an area of the brain called the anterior cortex. Again, this is a key area for problem-solving and emotional resilience.

There’s a number of other factors that contribute as well, and one of the key things running does is release this brain fertiliser called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Whenever you undertake a single bout of running you get a release of BDNF and this encourages new brain cells across key areas of the brain.

There’s also a reduction in some inflammation. People who develop mental health conditions or become stressed have an increase in peripheral inflammation. By that I mean the body starts producing these inflammatory markers that are a sign of stress within the body. These start to increase when the body is stressed and it often happens if we’re fighting a physical disease. When people are becoming unwell with mental health conditions or their mental health is an issue, these markers are increased as well. We’ve seen that running can reduce these peripheral inflammatory markers.

You also get changes within the endocannabinoid system. This is a really important reward-processing area of the brain. We think this is the main reason why people experience the runner’s high.

Those are some of the key biological neuroscience perspectives on why running helps us, but it’s important to acknowledge there are other factors as well. Going outdoors and being in an open space is good for our mental health, as is feeling a sense of achievement, a sense of completing a goal. There are some important biopsychosocial mechanisms that make us feel good when we have run as well, so it’s a complex interplay of many of these mechanisms.

Is it better to run outside than on a treadmill?

All movement is good, particularly when you’re putting a demand on the body. So running indoors is good, but there are studies showing there is an added benefit to being outdoors. And outside of running there is evidence of mental health benefits from just being outdoors.

See related 

• Why You Should Give Mindful Running A Try
• Six Things This Runner Learned From 75 Conversations About Men’s Health
• Five Ways Running Benefits Your Brain

How much running do you need to do to get the benefits?

The key message is that for people who are not running, just getting started is really important. Through a few minutes of running and building up gradually, you can start to experience those benefits. For instance some brain imaging studies have shown that within just ten minutes of doing light, gentle jogging you can get the rapid electrical activity in the hippocampus, giving you some real mental health benefits.

For people who are already running there are continued benefits going up in a linear fashion from 30 minutes to about 300 minutes a week, where we believe the mental health benefits start to plateau.

Can running be used to both prevent and treat mental health problems?

Yes, both. We did a study published in 2018 looking at 260,000 people all over the world. We looked at physical activity including running in people who were free from any mental health condition as a baseline. We followed them over an average of 7.5 years, and what we found was that the most active were around 15% less likely to develop depression than the least active. When people did 150 minutes of moderate and vigorous activity a week, the risk of depression was reduced in the future by around 30%.

To add to that, there have been large genetic studies looking at people who are genetically predisposed to depression. If you engage those people in physical activity, even though they have a genetic predisposition you can reduce their risk of developing depression. We’ve done similar work on anxiety, and how running and exercise can help prevent it developing in the future.

On the treatment and management side, I led European guidelines to make recommendations for the treatment of recognised mental health conditions. We looked at all of the best available evidence to make recommendations for the clinical care of people with mental health conditions across Europe. We made a strong recommendation that for people who are presenting with mild to moderate depression, exercise and physical activity should be a frontline treatment. There is very good evidence that as a treatment on its own, compared with the usual care, you can get meaningful reductions in people’s depression symptoms.

There are also a small number of studies that have directly compared exercise versus antidepressants or psychological therapies such as CBT. We have to be cautious interpreting these, because there are only a few studies, but broadly there seems to be no real difference between these treatments in mild to moderate depression. If somebody has more severe depression you may need other additional treatments as well, such as medication or psychotherapy.

Are there extra benefits if you run with other people?

Absolutely. Not only in terms of the mental health benefits, but also in terms of engagement. Whenever we engage in activity such as running, it’s important that we do it for the long term, so we get the long-term physical and mental benefits. One of the key factors that influence people doing anything in the long term is a sense of social cohesion. So running activities that involve groups and have a social aspect have been shown to have more favourable outcomes in the long term. If you look at interventions and studies that have done randomised control trials, group-based interventions tend to have better mental health outcomes as well.

Clearly not everybody wants to run in a group – if you want to run on your own, of course that’s OK too – but on average group-based interventions appear to have an added benefit due to that social aspect.

Can you get similar benefits from other types of exercise?

Broadly we define physical activity as any movement that increases energy expenditure. There are really good mental health benefits from just brisk walking, and we’ve often neglected the importance of light physical activity. If you’re unable to run, other activities like cycling or swimming have mental health benefits as well. And for some people who may prefer resistance training, like lifting weights, there is really good evidence that this can also have benefits in terms of preventing you from developing depression and anxiety, and could also be used as a treatment.

We broadly think that all types of movement are good. It’s up to the individual to find something they enjoy, and then keep doing it, because you’re much more likely to engage and maintain a behaviour – be it running or going to the gym – if you enjoy it.

Moving Minds Measured

New research overseen by Stubbs on a small group of elite and everyday athletes produced some startling improvements in brain activity after just 20 minutes of running. The everyday athletes saw an improvement of up to 29% in their ability to deal with stress and an% increase of up to 18% in relaxation levels. There was also a drop of up to 135% in their frustration levels, and they became less prone to making rash decisions.

“What’s really exciting about this is that we’ve been able to use robust EEG [electroencephalogram] electrical activity data among this sample of elite athletes and everyday athletes to understand what actually changes within the brain,” says Stubbs. “A lot of the previous measures that have captured changes in frustration and the other metrics have overwhelmingly relied on self-reporting – asking people questions to understand how they feel after running. Those are valid but what’s really exciting about this is that it’s not just asking someone, it’s looking specifically at different types of activity within the brain, to demonstrate what is actually changing.”

You can find out more in our interview with Stubbs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of everyone in the UK, and with no clear idea of how and when it’s going to end, it’s little wonder that many of us are feeling anxious. That probably won’t come as a huge surprise to you – it’s only natural that people’s wellbeing is being affected by such a major crisis – but that doesn’t mean you should shrug it off. It’s vital to take steps to look after your mental health, and the Every Mind Matters campaign can help.

That’s what we wrote in mid-April when we first covered this mental health campaign from the NHS and Public Health England, and we find ourselves back in a similar position. The pandemic is still causing widespread disruption and Every Mind Matters can still help you to look after your mental wellbeing. It provides advice and tools to help support your mental health during this extraordinarily trying time. On the website you’ll find the Mind Plan tool, which starts with a quiz to create tailored support for you based on a few questions about your situation, along with specific advice tackling common problems like trouble sleeping and stress.

It takes a couple of minutes to complete the Mind Plan quiz, after which you’ll get some advice with videos to help you put that advice into practice, whether it’s practising guided breathing or tackling a home workout. And if a suggestion doesn’t hit home, you can swap it out for another one.

We’d urge everyone to visit the Every Mind Matters site and give the Mind Plan quiz a go at least, but if you want some general mental health advice right here and now, here’s NHS psychiatrist Dr Max Pemberton.

“For me, the most important thing is to have a routine, where you can break up your day into sections, and exercise,” says Pemberton. “There are so many programmes online and workouts you can do at home to keep your mind active. You must remember that throughout all this, you are not alone – speak to your family and friends. We will get through it and, with any luck, emerge from lockdown stronger than ever.”

Here are Pemberton’s top ten tips for supporting your mental wellbeing.

1. Our physical and mental wellbeing are related. Looking after your body will help you look after your mind. Physical activity can have an extremely positive effect on your mental wellbeing. Even if this means doing just a short workout at home, it can boost your mood.

See related 

• Tips For Living With Roommates In A Tiny Flat During The Lockdown
• How The 4-7-8 Breathing Technique Can Help You Relax And Get To Sleep
• The Gut Health Doctor Explains How To Avoid Constipation Right Now

2. Managing your sleep well can benefit your mental wellbeing hugely. Not getting enough can affect concentration and reduce your energy levels, so make sure you try to keep regular sleep hours.

3. Take a deep breath. Slow, measured breathing is an effective way of relaxing your mind and switching off from the outside world.

4. Stay positive! The way we think, the way we feel and the way we behave are all linked. It might sound obvious but make a real effort to reframe unhelpful thoughts. Take a step back and see how you can think about things differently. When positive thinking becomes a habit, you will be happier and better prepared to handle the current situation.

5. Don’t be afraid to seek support! We all need help sometimes. Make sure you reach out to people around you if you begin to struggle. And if you think someone is struggling with their mental wellbeing then do reach out to them. Not only could you have a positive impact on their life, but this can also build your own emotional strength.

6. Learn something new. It’s important to do things that make you happy, perhaps a new hobby or skill that can take your mind off things. Setting goals can be a great way to build your self-esteem and feel a sense of achievement.

7. Create a routine. This is really important as life is changing and we need to adapt to our new living situation. Routine gives both children and adults an increased feeling of safety in the context of uncertainty, so maybe make a plan for the day that includes time for working, eating, relaxing, exercising.

8. Stick to mealtimes and bedtimes – this shouldn’t be too difficult if you’re working from home, but don’t be tempted to stay in bed or work longer hours. Eat at the times you usually would, as this can help you remain in your routine.

9. Plan for the down times. Everyone will feel different emotions because of what is going on, but it’s perfectly normal. Learn what helps you feel better – call a friend, listen to uplifting music or even have a hot bath to help you relax.

10. Keep your mind active. Read, write, play games, do crossword puzzles, sudokus, jigsaws or drawing, cooking and painting. Find something that works for you and be creative!

There are very few humans, if any, who exist in an entirely-pressure free state. We all have things to do, both in and outside of work, and that creates some kind of pressure every day to complete those tasks.

A little pressure is no bad thing, but if your workload gets too much then you can quickly feel overwhelmed. This is a state of emotional overload and it can be tough to recover from it.

For more information on what emotional overload is and five practical steps for dealing with it, we spoke to Dr Alan Watkins, a psychologist and neuroscientist who has coached the GB Olympic rowing team.

How To Deal With Emotional Overload

1. Learn To Spot It

The first step is to realise if you are on the upslope or the downslope. One of the signs of being on the downslope is a loss of self awareness, so you often need people around you to flag it.

Once you’re aware of the relationships between pressure and performance you should be monitoring it continuously. You’ve got to know where your balance point is, and keep yourself on the healthy side. If you’re on the healthy side of the curve, you can build greater levels of performance.

2. BREATHE

Get your breathing under control. It’s something very concrete you can do. There are 12 dimensions to your breath you can learn to control, and most people are confused as to which are the most important, which is why people will mistakenly say “take a few deep breaths”. Don’t bother with that, it won’t work. What does help is rhythmic breathing. That means a fixed ratio of in to out, so four seconds in, six out, and so on. If you breathe rhythmically it will stabilise your biology.

There’s an acronym BREATHE. Breathe Rhythmically Evenly And Through the Heart Every day. Rhythmically means that fixed ratio from in to out. Evenly means smoothly, a fixed volume per second. And your attention should be in the centre of your chest, not your belly.

3. Manage Your Emotions

Once you stabilise your biology the next thing is to get control of the whole emotion. Most human beings have no control of their emotions which is why they think other people are doing it to them. “You made me feel angry, you did it to me.” The truth is no-one is doing anything to you, you’re doing it to yourself. When you feel angry because someone has behaved badly, no-one has injected you with chemicals to make you feel angry, you basically created that biological state in yourself.

The game-changer is taking what we call radical ownership. Every emotion is created by you, in you. If you can accept that simple truth your life will change dramatically. Because then you can say to yourself, “If I’m creating it, I can create something different.”

Practise shifting your emotions on the couch when you’re not under threat, until you get really good at it. You’ll fail if the first time you practise it is in a state of crisis – that’s too much pressure.

4. Simplify And Clarify

What often flips people from the downslope to the upslope is simplification and clarification. If someone – a manager, colleague or partner – can simplify the task you have on your plate, or clarify it, that takes the pressure out of the system and you start to perform again.

5. Use A Stop-Do List

A to-do list can help, and sometimes a stop-do list is useful too. Look at your tasks and move those that aren’t urgent or necessary to a stop-do, or do-later list. Shrink the to-do list to just the stuff that’s really key.

More Helpful Advice About Stress

• What Is Emotional Eating And How Do You Tackle It?
• Are You Stress Eating During The COVID-19 Pandemic?
• 10 Symptoms Of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore

We’re living in stressful times, and one of the results of that for many people has been an unhealthy change to their diet. A new survey commissioned by the British Nutrition Foundation has found that 27% of people are eating less healthily than usual during lockdown, and 45% said that stress, anxiety or tiredness is one of the main reasons they were eating more.

Stress eating doesn’t just occur during the COVID-19 pandemic, however. It is something that can hinder attempts to eat a healthy diet at any time. We spoke to Helena Gibson-Moore, nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, for more information on stress eating and what you can do about it.

What is stress eating?

Stress-related eating, sometimes called comfort eating, is a type of disordered eating pattern when someone uses food as a means of coping with a stressful experience, rather than just eating in response to internal cues of hunger. This type of behaviour can lead to overeating and consumption of foods that are high in calories, fat or sugars, which over time can cause people to become overweight or obese.

How common a problem is it? Is it more common in men or women?

Although it's unclear exactly how many people are affected by this type of eating behaviour, some people appear to be more susceptible to it than others. Stress-related eating seems to be more common in women and people with obesity, compared with men and those of normal weight.

What are the main causes of stress eating?

Stress can cause psychological and physiological changes in the body that may lead to someone seeking foods high in fat and sugars, as well as changes in the regulation of appetite hormones that may increase appetite and promote weight gain. Stress can also cause lack of sleep and reduce motivation to be active, which could also be associated with weight gain.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are experiencing more stressful situations than we did before – and as our recent survey suggests, stress may be one of the main causes of unhealthy eating habits during lockdown.

See related 

• The Every Mind Matters Campaign Can Help With Your Mental Wellbeing During COVID-19
• Struggling With Your Sleep During The Pandemic? You’re Not Alone, And This Advice Can Help
• Guess What? Men Are No Strangers To Emotional Eating
• Mindful Eating Explained
• The Best Mindfulness Apps

What are the best ways to tackle the problem?

If you feel you are eating more unhealthily during this time then there are some things that may help – like having healthy snacks readily available, such as a fruit bowl on the table, and resisting the temptation to buy foods high in fat and sugars. If you find you’re snacking when you’re not hungry then try to distract yourself by doing something else like taking a walk, trying a new hobby, reading a book or calling a friend. You could also try some stress management techniques such as meditation or yoga.

If you’re still struggling to control your eating habits and feel you need extra help, get in touch with your GP who can refer you to a qualified healthcare professional.

We’re told men should talk more, but that can be easier said than done. The man behind MindJournal explains how writing first can help

Opening up to talk about your mental health is not easy for many men. Even those who accept that they need to do something about their mental health can struggle with it, discovering they’re unable to find the right words when they do try.

In these situations it’s worth considering keeping a journal. This avoids the pressure of a direct conversation and you might well find that if you write things down first, the words come more easily when you talk to someone.

Ollie Aplin is a firm believer that more men should keep a journal and his book MindJournal: This Book Will Make You Stronger aims to make it easier to start, with guided exercises to start you thinking about your mental health.

We spoke to Aplin for more information on the book and the value of keeping a journal, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, where we’re all facing more pressure than usual.

Can you explain the concept of MindJournal?

“MindJournal, as a movement, aims to get guys journaling as a way of approaching day-to-day life in a mindful, positive way. The new book that accompanies this is a guided journal filled with prompts and tasks.”

How does journaling help?

“Journaling has helped me a lot over the years. It helped me confront the emotions I was struggling with when my mum decided to take her own life. It allowed me to find the words I needed to use in my therapy sessions.

“Guys think we can’t or shouldn’t talk about the stuff that we’re struggling with. When the coping strategies that you have in place aren’t working and cracks start to appear, people say you should go and talk to someone. A lot of guys don’t really feel comfortable with talking or don’t know the words to express what they’re feeling.

“Journaling helped me personally as a training area where I could explore my feelings in private and get them onto paper. If I then want to talk to someone about it I already know what I want to say. That’s the real value it has for men in particular. It can act as a tool to help you talk about things and express them more clearly.”

How can journaling help during the COVID-19 pandemic?

“For me, journaling is helping me in two major ways: one, staying focused and two, staying grateful. It’s very easy in times like these to forget the basics such as eating well, sleeping well and exercising. Journaling helps me set mini-milestones that keep my health in check.

“It’s also easy to forget the positives in everyday life. Being able to switch your mindset from negative to positive is a huge skill that I’m always trying to develop – and again, writing down three things I’m grateful for every day helps keep the positive vibes up!”

How is the book different to a normal journal?

“When I first started keeping a journal I struggled with the fact that most journals and notebooks are blank – you’re expected to rock up and write. So I created this 30-step programme. The exercises start off quite simple – answering questions like ‘What kind of goals do you have in your life?’ or ‘What do you want from journalling?’

“The exercises get tougher as you get used to writing things down. They cover a wide area of everyday life because I feel like guys don’t necessarily look at all the different aspects of their lives. For example, I focus quite heavily on work. I can quite easily and comfortably talk about work and the emotions associated with it, but if you asked me about emotions to do with my personal life or relationships I’d probably be more private.

“You build up confidence so that when you get to the end of the 30 questions you can go out and get a blank journal to continue asking yourself questions.”

Is the book about maintaining good mental health, or dealing with problems that might arise?

“This is about mental fitness. You’re actively working towards keeping yourself mentally fit and strong. It’s preventative as well as a resource for when shit does hit the fan and you need some help or support.

“Workouts help your body, but what are you doing to keep your mind in prime condition? There are things you can be doing to make sure you’re more mindful, more positive, calmer and able to cope with situations in a better way.

“Even if you are really struggling, that doesn’t make you weak, and talking about it doesn’t make you weak. But there are things you can do that will make you feel better and stronger.”

See related

• Look After Your Mental Health With This Five-Day Plan For Minimising Stress
• How Masculinity Can Harm Men’s Mental Health, According To This Therapist
• The Every Mind Matters Campaign Can Help With Your Mental Wellbeing During COVID-19

What is a good example exercise from the book?

“The one that gets a lot of guys thinking is ‘What is your role as a man?’ That’s one I’ve had a lot of conversations with different guys about.”

Give this exercise from MindJournal a go. Take 30 minutes to think about it and write something down if you like.

• What is your role as a man?
• How does it feel to be a man?
• What is expected of you?
• What kind of man would you like to be?

Try not to be too critical of yourself. This is a space for you to reflect on the man you’ve become and why.

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If you’re looking for ways to make your lifestyle healthier, looking after your gut microbiome should be near the top of your list. The importance of your gut bacteria to all manner of different health outcomes is becoming more apparent as more research is done, and this extends to your mental health as well.

Through Poo-Pourri, a spray designed to trap odours in the toilet bowl, we got to speak to dietitian Dr Megan Rossi about the link between your mental health and gut health.

Is there a link between gut health and mental health?

When it comes to whether our gut health can impact our mental health, five years ago I would have said it’s possible – but the research has exploded in this area, such that I can now confidently say yes, it absolutely can.

The constant, two-way communication that occurs between our gut and our brain is referred to as the gut-brain axis. The latest evidence suggests that tapping into our gut-brain axis could play a pivotal role in our mental health.

How well established is the link according to the scientific research?

Our understanding of the connection between our brain and our gut microbiota (GM) – the trillions of microbes that call your intestine home – is still in the early stages, but there is some promising evidence building.

Trials have shown not only that our GM is implicated in our mental health, but that by modifying our GM with simple diet strategies, we can help manage mental health conditions such as depression – alongside medication and therapy, as needed. What’s more, by nourishing our GM with both diet and non-diet strategies, including sleep, stress and exercise, we may even be able to prevent some cases of depression and anxiety.

See related 

• High-Fibre Foods To Help You Lose Weight And Get Healthier
• 5 Gut Health Myths, According To The Gut Health Doctor
• Improve Your Diet With These Foods That Are Good For Your Gut

What can you do to improve your mental health through your gut health?

There are several strategies you can try straight away and small changes can make a big difference, as I frequently see in patients.

Eat a high-fibre diverse diet with a variety of plant-based foods. Try to aim for 30 different types of plant foods a week. Studies show a Mediterranean diet, which is very high in fibre and extra virgin olive oil, can be effective in improving depression levels.

De-stress with mindfulness. Try doing just 15 minutes a day of meditation, or using a mindfulness app, which can make a significant difference. The benefits may not be instant, but studies show a difference in 12 weeks.

It is by no means easy to adapt to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while you can shelter younger children from the full details of what’s going on, there’s no doubt that it will be having an impact on them as well.

To help you support your child’s mental health, charity YoungMinds has published a guide for parents and carers, and there is also a free parents’ helpline you can call for advice on 0808 802 5544 from 9.30am until 4pm, Monday to Friday. You can also email using the contact form on the website at any time.

You can download the full guide (PDF) which, along with tips for how to help look after your children’s mental health, includes advice for parents so they can positively address their own wellbeing.

See related 

• The Every Mind Matters Campaign Can Help With Your Mental Wellbeing During COVID-19
• Look After Your Mental Health With This Five-Day Plan For Minimising Stress

The advice has been sourced from 1,500 parents and carers, with the key themes uncovered in the research flagged in a series of short tips. Top of the list is to talk to your child about what is going on, providing them with age-appropriate information about the situation, and asking them how they’re feeling. When you do check in with them, another tip is to listen to your child without interrupting them.

Other advice includes limiting the amount of news the child has access to, and restricting it to trustworthy sources like the Government and NHS websites. Setting a routine is also recommended – as is being flexible with it so the structure itself doesn’t become a source of stress. Those questioned also suggested that getting outside into the fresh air for your daily exercise was worth making time for.

If you are a child or young person looking for urgent advice, YoungMinds also operates the free YoungMinds Crisis Messenger service, which is available 24/7 and accessed by texting YM to 85258.

The first and most important thing to know about grief is that the experience is not the same for everyone. At all.

“When we grieve it’s like our own fingerprint, unique to us,” says Lianna Champ, a bereavement expert with over 40 years’ experience in funeral care and grief counselling, and author of How To Grieve Like A Champ.

“Every single relationship we have is totally unique to ourselves. So if you have two brothers and they lose a parent, each of those brothers will experience a different grief because each relationship with the parent is unique.”

However, it is sometimes easy to kid yourself that you’re fine after a loss and bottle up emotions that you’d be better off working through. To better understand grieving and how it may be affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic, here’s Champ.

Do people really experience the five stages of grief?

The five stages of grief were proposed by the psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. She found that when somebody receives the diagnosis of a terminal illness, they will go through these five stages of grief. These have been wrongly transferred to bereavement. For example, the first one is denial, so when somebody dies you can choose to disbelieve it, but you can’t deny the fact they’ve died. Then there’s anger. I’ve worked with so many families where, especially when the death has been expected, the family doesn’t feel angry.

There are no set stages, and if we believe there are and we try to fit ourselves into stages we don’t allow our natural grieving process. Whatever you are feeling when you grieve is right and natural for you.

How can you recognise that maybe you haven’t allowed yourself to grieve properly?

This is called unresolved grief. We are very good at lying to each other about how we feel. We can be in bits inside but if someone asks, “How are you?” we’ll say, “I’m fine.” I did it myself when my mother died. When you lie to others you lie to yourself, and your subconscious picks up on it and tries to think you’re fine. You get good at burying your pain.

You have to work through your grief experience as it’s happening. We can store up a lot of unresolved grief and if we then find ourselves overreacting to a relatively small loss, then we know we have a lot of unresolved grief inside. You can find you’re very tired, or your sleeping pattern is disrupted, or your eating is disrupted. Lots of things indicate that we are struggling emotionally.

How do you resolve it?

Sometimes we find that we can have complicated relationships with people in our lives, and there are things we wish we could have changed – said or not said, done or not done. When they pass away we lose that opportunity to make it right, and that can hold us in a place of limbo. A good thing to do is to write down how you feel about the relationship. Think, “If I could have one last conversation, what would I want to say and what would I want from them?” It can highlight those areas where you have been stuck. Be really honest with yourself. Nobody else is going to read this.

Journalling is also a good thing – writing down your feelings during the day. You might do it every day for a week, then not do it for two weeks, but it’s good because you can always see how far you’ve come.

Is there a typical timescale for grief?

We’ve lost the luxury of grieving. We think we should feel perfect straight away – “why am I not normal? It’s been six weeks.” Well, it doesn’t take six weeks. We change and have to adapt to our grief. There’s no stopwatch and there’s no medal at the end of it for those who get there quicker than others. We’re all at different stages in our lives, our relationships are different.

You never recover from grief. It’s about reconciling with it and moving forward. You never get to the stage where you don’t miss a person. You always miss them and that’s normal.

See related 

• How To Recognise Stress Drinking And What To Do About It
• This Ex-MMA Fighter Shows Therapy Isn’t Just For Those In Crisis
• What It’s Like To Have Cancer
• How To Recognise When Someone Is Struggling With Their Mental Health

How can you help someone who is grieving? What do people do that makes it worse?

We’re very good at jumping in with our own experiences and that is the worst thing you can do. My mum died in 2011 from heart failure. I bumped into someone six or seven months later and she said, “I’m sorry, I heard about your mum, what happened?” I said it was heart failure and she said, “Oh, well, my mother died over three years from cancer.” I came away thinking, “My mum only died from heart failure.” They hijacked my grief experience and minimised it.

The best thing is to listen without comment and don’t compare. Remember how you felt when you had your own losses. It’s a unique experience. Listen and be in the moment. Grievers just need to be heard, to put the pain into words. When we talk emotionally we aren’t engaging in conversation, we’re making a statement – this is how I feel. And you need somebody to say thank you for sharing.

Another good way to help is to make a commitment to do something. We all say “give me a ring if you need me” or “I can cook a meal for you, let me know when”. No. Say, “I’m going to cook it for you next Wednesday.” Grievers find it hard to reach out. We’ve all been taught not to burden each other with our feelings, so make a commitment.

How is the COVID-19 pandemic making grieving harder?

It’s given us a twofold problem. We’re already grieving the loss of our normal routines and the loss of being with the people we love. So when we do then suffer a death in this time we are coming from a weakened point. And of course we can’t reach out physically, we can’t come together and take comfort from each other. We are having to learn to grieve alone or grieve electronically. It’s so difficult and goes against our natural instincts.

Do you have any tips on how to grieve in isolation?

One thing to stress is that it’s OK to fold into it. to pull the covers over your head and weep. It isn’t fair, and it hurts, and we have to accept that, to wallow in that pain. Then we have to reach out to others. It’s so important that we communicate. Pick up the phone – we don’t perhaps want to be on FaceTime when we’re crying and feeling awful, unless it’s someone we feel really safe with, but pick up the phone and reach out. A good thing is to have one person you have a listening agreement with. Someone in a role where you can call them at two in the morning if you’re struggling or not coping with the isolation. A person who can be your sponge to absorb everything you’re going through.

This is a stressful time. You don’t need us to tell you that, but what you may need from us is a plan for how to go about dealing with that stress. We’ve enlisted Dr Chris Shambrook, psychological consultant and director at PlanetK2, to help on that front, using his five-day plan to reduce stress. This plan employs techniques that elite athletes have adopted to ensure they can perform at the highest level.

“Elite athletes, with the help of their coaches, live in a constant cycle of managing the deliberately created stressors of the training programme so that they keep growing and developing,” says Shambrook.

“You could assume you’re OK or that the levels of stress you’re feeling aren’t a big deal. However, it seems sensible right now to adopt the mindset that ‘I’ve got more stress than I’m used to, I’m going to take care of myself to make sure it doesn’t add up to anything bad over time’.”

Sound advice. Take it away, Dr Shambrook.

Five-Day Plan For Minimising Stress

Day 1 – Take Stock And Plan

Elite athletes do a lot of self-monitoring and have a lot of well-practised rest and recovery routines. When the stress of training goes up, they know to pay more attention to their waking heart rate, morning weight, muscle soreness, morning mood and hydration levels for any signs that the stress has tipped them into the danger zone.

They also know that at this time, they need to pay attention to all the little things that add up to helping the body cope. So they take care of nutrition and hydration; they focus more on totally relaxing the body using breathing techniques or imagery to ensure they’re respecting the impact the training is taking; they ensure that the protective force field of sleep is prioritised, sometimes napping in the day if they need it.

So, today is your chance to do your equivalent of the elite athlete’s response:

1. Tune in to your body. Check for signs of any response to stress: muscle tension, heart rate or breathing changes, sleep disturbance, gut changes, skin tone change… just look for signs, so you know how much care you need to extend to yourself.
2. Tune in to your mind. Note down any mood changes, persistent unhelpful thoughts, changes in confidence levels or sense of control. Be honest – you’re looking for these changes, rather than trying to make excuses for yourself. Acceptance is key here!
3. Make sure you’ve got a good plan for the next few days. Plan regular, healthy meals, good hydration, and a great sleep environment and routine. Be curious about how well you’re able to do it each day.

Day 2 – Focus On Right Now

Stress increases if we feel unable to respond or take control of a situation. This can be made worse by focusing on the future and unanswerable questions, which is a trap that elite athletes know they need to avoid.

There’s a time for looking into the future to get perspective and to plan. But there’s also a time for sticking in the moment and committing to immediate, controllable action that helps to build a sense of confidence and momentum.

If you’re focusing on reducing stress, it makes sense to be in the moment and concentrate on the things you are in control of. To ensure you’re doing this really well, today’s actions are as follows:

1. Four to five times during the day, take the time to focus on your breathing, making sure you’re taking full and slow inhalations and exhalations. Notice what impact it has each time you stop, breathe and commit totally to the moment. Do this for 20 breaths each time and you’ll soon see how a simple mindfulness activity changes your stress levels.
2. Each time you finish focusing on your breath, ask yourself, “What’s right now?” You should find it easier to choose the correct thing to focus on. Stress often goes up if you’re focusing on too many things or things you can’t do right now.

Elite athletes have to be superb at being in the moment, and they practise the discipline of “right now” thinking so they know this skill will be with them when they need it.

Day 3 – Share The Load

Every elite athlete knows excellence is never a solo pursuit from – performance to managing stress effectively. The best athletes are those who choose to benefit as much as possible from the support and expertise of the team around them.

You might not have the support team of an Olympic athlete, but most people have support to ensure you’re not carrying stress and worry all by yourself. So, day three of the stress reduction plan involves:

1. Write a list of the people close to you. By each person, write down a way in which they do help you already or could help you if you ask. Then choose the top three people who you want to contact today or tomorrow to seek out the support they can provide.
2. Get in touch with your top three people to see how they’re doing, and to let them know what’s going on with you and why you thought it would be great to connect with them. Go into the conversation knowing that simply by connecting you’ll feel supported and also knowing that you can ask for something that’s going to be of help to you. So often we choose to carry on alone, but we can choose to share the load.

Day 4 – Adopt A Challenge Mindset

When preparing for major events, athletes know a challenge mindset helps both mind and body. They know if they stay focused on the things they’re in control of, the reasons to be confident and what they want to learn from the situation they’re in, then they’re setting up a great relationship with pressure and opportunity. Because we’ve accepted that stress is present, it makes sense that we should make sure we’re employing this mindset to be in the best shape we can.

Day four has a couple of simple actions to take to complete your challenge mindset formula and minimise the chances of stress causing a threat mindset for you:

1. Reflect back on day two and remind yourself of the simple impact of focusing on the moment and things you’re in control of.
2. Build a list, alone or with help, of all the strengths you’ve got that are particularly useful right now and the times in the past when you’ve responded well to testing circumstances. Don’t be shy – these are your strengths, so make sure you’re taking nothing for granted and get a full list!
3. Get a list of things you’d like to find out about yourself in the current situation. Do this by using the following sentence starters to prompt your thinking: “I’m curious to find out how well I can…”, “I’m looking forward to testing my ability to…”, and “I want to test how effectively my strength of X can be applied in this situation”.

See related 

• The Every Mind Matters Campaign Can Help With Your Mental Wellbeing During COVID-19
• 10 Symptoms Of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore
• How To Recognise Stress Drinking And What To Do About It

Day 5 – Mind Your Language

By now you’re probably in pretty good shape in terms of stress reduction. Day five has an extra language check to make sure the way you’re communicating with yourself isn’t causing unnecessary stress. The most successful athletes are aware of the way they speak to themselves, particularly when the pressure is on –it’s hard to always be your own most helpful ally!

Today you’ll check whether you’re using unhelpful language that might be unnecessarily raising stress. Listen out for any of the following and make a note of any time you use these phrases:

• “I must…” or “they must…”
• “I should…” or “they should…”
• “I need to…” or “they need to…”
• “I ought to…” or “they ought to…”

Demand-based thinking like this typically creates greater amounts of unhelpful responses to situations. Usually, the statements being made aren’t at all true. If you notice you’re using these words then it’s time to remove the demand and start being fairer to yourself. So, your final step of stress reduction is to shift the sentences into more helpful phrases using the following ideas:

• “I’d like it if I…” or “It would be great if they…”
• “I’ll see if I can…” or “I’ll let them know what I’d like…”
• “I’ll see how close I can get to…” or “I’ll see how much I can help them to…”

Practising more open thinking helps to minimise the extra stress that comes from demand thinking, so this extra check can help ensure you’re not undoing the other good work by making unrealistic demands of yourself.

Masculinity, as we’re probably all aware by now, can turn nasty with catastrophic consequences for the person affected and the people around them – something Mike Miller knows all too well. Miller is programme director of Reach at The Cabin Group in Thailand, a rehab centre for men struggling with addiction. While Miller believes traditional masculinity – “a set of accepted behaviours for men” – is not all toxic, he thinks there are things that men get “trained” to do that don’t help them to thrive. We asked him to explain what these were, and what you can start doing about it if you think any of what he says applies to you.

What are the expectations of masculinity?

A lot of the time our worth is attached to what we provide and what we produce. When men introduce themselves they’ll say, “What do you do?” Not, “Do you have kids? Do you have a family?” It can make our worth attached to what we do, not who we are. Feelings are sort of in the realm of women, and we get messages like don’t be weak, don’t be vulnerable.

Which parts of masculinity can be unhelpful?

The message of being very stoic and keeping your feelings inside. That doesn’t have to be harmful, unless you have a need for support to get your emotional needs met – if you’re carrying a lot of stress, pain, anxiety, fear, depression. If you’ve been trained not to reach out and admit that your need help, there are going to be some maladaptive [not helpful or appropriate to the environment or situation] coping behaviours that come into play. That could be things like drinking and drug use, problematic gambling, problematic sexual behaviours like promiscuity that gets in the way of intimacy. And if you can’t have intimacy and you need help with getting your emotional needs met, how is that going to happen?

What sort of emotional needs do you mean?

The biggest things are connection to other people, feeling heard, loving, feeling love, empowerment, having agency and having self-esteem.

Activities like drinking, gambling and sex aren’t illegal, so how can you identify when they become a problem?

If you do it in a compulsive way where you can’t control it, or tell yourself you’ll stop and you can’t. And then there are negative consequences. If we take drinking, for some people it starts off as relief, to get away from the stress and pressures of life, but if it becomes compulsive the consequences may be that it affects their employment, their health, their relationships.

See related 

• This Ex-MMA Fighter Shows Therapy Isn’t Just For Those In Crisis
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex Therapists

If people are having problems, how can they start addressing them?

I can tell you how we started addressing it at Reach – granted these people are perhaps further along the track. The first thing we do when people come into our programme is get involved in psycho-dynamic group therapy, which is about men having relationships with other men, and being able to drop the mask and just tell the truth about what they’re experiencing and what they’re feeling. It starts teaching them to honour what’s going on. Connecting with someone and being able to be honest, to say “I’m having some struggles right now and I need some support”, really does go against traditional men’s gender training and socialisation.

A lot of men also have adverse childhood experiences – what I, as a trauma therapist, would consider to be trauma. I’m not talking the classic things people might think of like childhood sexual abuse, or being in a war zone. I’m talking about, for instance, having two parents who work and being raised by a nanny, and when your parents come home they’re too tired to spend too much time with you. Then the nanny leaves and you get a new nanny and what may happen is you grow up with attachment problems. Those are what we would consider to be traumatic events and those can really inform how you behave in relationship to people for the rest of your life.

I work in a luxury rehab centre and there are people here for whom money is never going to be an issue, yet they’re not happy people. The way they cope with the emotional pain is drinking, drugs, gambling, food. There’s a lot of examples where people eat to soothe their emotions, or because they don’t know how to reach out to other people.

What I would suggest is that therapy is a good idea. This might seem like a really big stretch for some people, especially for men and especially when you don’t feel you’re in some kind of a crisis or at rock bottom, but I’m a big believer in reaching out to somebody who can listen and provide feedback.

Mike Miller is programme director of specialist men’s programme Reach at The Cabin Group, Chiang Mai

There are a lot of ways to get involved in Movember. You can, of course, grow a moustache, if indeed you are able to. Or you can take part in one of the 24 MoRunning events that take place around the country during the month. Or you can follow MoRunning ambassador James Martin’s lead and run every day while talking about men’s health.

Martin ran 6km a day for Movember in 2018 and is planning to double that to run 12km a day this year. Both are significant numbers for men’s health.

“Last year I did 6km a day, which represented the six years men die earlier than women for no physiological reason,” says Martin. “Because of a lack of wanting to go to the doctor, or to talk about things.

“I thought this year should be a bit more, and 84 men take their lives each week in the UK, so I thought that doing 84km a week – 12km a day – to represent each one of those men would be a bit more of a challenge.”

Last year, Martin invited people to join him on his runs to talk about men’s health, and he ended up having around 75 conversations on the topic. We spoke to him to find out what he’d learned from those conversations.

1. People Want To Talk About Men’s Health

While there is some truth behind the belief that men don’t like to open up about health problems, Martin found that he had no shortage of volunteers to join him on his runs and talk.

“I had people run with me every day and on many occasions more than one,” says Martin. “At the end there were 22 people on the final run. At weekends I went off and did the MoRuns and I had people from my regional offices come join me. The response was amazing, mostly from men, which was fantastic.”

2. When You’re Out Exercising, People Become More Open

If you want men to open up, get them moving.

“I’m not the most sociable person,” says Martin. “I struggled with my mental health for many years and although I’m very open about it, just having conversations with people I didn’t know very well wasn’t always easy for me.

“The thing that struck me most was how open people were when you were running side by side, people who would never have said things to me in an office. That really struck me from the word go.

“I think with guys especially, exercise can make them comfortable. It’s what we’ve grown up with, being out playing football… You can feel a little more open and more comfortable.”

3. Men Still Aren’t Getting Checked For Prostate Cancer

Early detection is the key to surviving prostate cancer, but even when they're worried about the disease, men still aren’t getting checked.

“The number of people my age that were concerned about prostate cancer but hadn’t done anything about it – that really did surprise me,” says Martin. “They’d heard about it but there was still that slight misconception that you go to the doctor and get touched in unmentionable places. You get a blood test before anything like that might need to happen!”

If you want more information about what is involved, our prostate check explainer walks you through exactly what you can expect.

4. If You’re Open About Your Mental Health, Other People Will Open Up Too

No matter how together someone might appear, they might be struggling with a mental health problem. The best way to get them to open up is to be open yourself.

“Having people saying ‘I suffered with it’ makes it clear that they’re not talking to someone who might judge,” says Martin. “When I first became aware of a mental health problem, I found a closed door on some occasions when telling people I had this issue. Not because people were being mean, they just didn’t know how to act. I think having people who are non-judgemental is very helpful.”

See related 

• Mental Health Awareness Week: How To Use Running To Help Your Mental Health
• “I Worry Less Now, Because I Run More” – How Running Can Help Your Mental Health
• Taking Part In Parkrun Makes You Happier

5. Exercising With Others Can Help You Get Moving

Martin spoke to lots of men who had concerns about their overall health but weren’t able to get themselves moving, often blaming a lack of time.

“They say, ‘I know I need to do something to improve my fitness, my health, but I don’t have time.’ I started running with Couch to 5K – it took half an hour three times a week,” says Martin. "If you don’t have half an hour three times a week you’ve got more problems than not being fit. You have some real work/life balance issues.

“It’s almost a mental block that stops them and getting together with a group of people just helps you do it. We have a running club at work now based on what happened last year, because people realised that they could go out with people from work and it wouldn’t be the case that you have to run a sub-20-minute 5K or whatever. It’s a friendly community. I do parkrun each week and encourage as many people as I can to do it – again, because it’s a friendly community.”

6. Training For An Event Can Lead To A Long-Term Lifestyle Change

If you want the perfect incentive to get moving, sign up for an event.

“This was especially true in one group,” says Martin. “Last year six people committed to do an event in Scotland with me about six weeks before the event – some had never run – so they trained for the full six weeks. I contacted them this week and they’re all still running. Every single one of them.”

James Martin is a MoRunning ambassador. Find out more about the Mo Running race series at mo-running.com

Whatever you’re looking to achieve in your life, you are going to face some setbacks. How you respond to those will play a big part in whether you are successful or not in your endeavours. But being resilient is easier said than done.

We spoke to mindset coach Caroline Britton who works with athletes and entrepreneurs, about six methods you can try to improve the way you approach your goals. Each can work in its own way, but Britton recommends starting with the first three in order.

1. Know Your Why

“When you’re trying to take your performance to the next level it takes a lot of work, so unless you have rooted yourself in the why, it’s very difficult to keep up the momentum,” says Britton. “That’s why you see people stalling.

“I always recommend writing a one-page mission statement saying what you’re trying to achieve, why, and how you’re going to do it. Then read it every morning. You’re programming yourself.”

2. Use Empowering Statements

Having a positive mantra in mind can boost your confidence, but you need to commit to it – it needs to be personal and provoke a reaction from you.

“Make sure it’s something that really resonates with you and then use your physiology alongside that,” says Britton. “My clients might sit there and say ‘I’m successful’ or ‘I’m an elite athlete’, but they’re not saying it with their body, with conviction. Say it with your shoulders back, chest out, head held high – it makes a massive difference.”

3. Surround Yourself With Positivity

“When you’re trying to achieve something, think about who and what you’re surrounding yourself with. Listen to positive podcasts and audiobooks, read inspiring stories, watch inspiring things on television, and speak to people who have done the same things and got good results.

“If you’re all doom and gloom it will make a massive impact on how you feel and how you act. If you can think ‘Well they did it so I can do it’, you’ll come at it from a completely different angle.”

See related

• How To Make A Good First Impression
• Five Ways To Become More Resilient
• You’re Probably Breathing Wrong And Breathwork Can Help
• How To Use Positive Thinking To Manage Stress

4. Do Regular Breathing Exercises

Whenever you’re feeling anxious Britton suggests this simple breathing exercise: breathe in for three seconds, hold for four seconds and then breathe out for five seconds. However, this isn’t just something to use in a pinch. You can make breathing exercises a regular part of your day.

“The exercise brings us back to the present, so all we’re focusing on is our breathing,” says Britton.

“It can be a cure, but also preventive if we choose to focus on our breath throughout the day. Set an alarm on your phone, three or four times throughout the day, to check whether you’re breathing shallowly or deeply, and focus on your breathwork.”

5. Practise Visualisation

“It’s important to be very clear about what you want to achieve and to spend time visualising yourself in that state, because we become what we believe we are,” says Britton. “Our thoughts dictate our feelings and then our feelings dictate our actions. If you’re telling yourself you’re not going to be able to do it and feeling despondent then you act from that place. If you can switch to saying you have a clear vision of what you want to do, it makes you feel empowered, excited and optimistic, and you act from that place and get much better results.”

Britton recommends practising visualisation first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

“Spend ten minutes getting yourself in ‘the zone’,” says Britton. “Sit quietly where you can’t be interrupted and imagine yourself performing at your peak. Feel it in your body. Imagine exactly how you want to perform and feel the elation as you achieve it.”

6. Write It Down

“Journal every day – write down all your thoughts and feelings, including the reasons you know you can perform well,” says Britton. “This is a highly effective form of mindfulness for performance.

“Every time something goes well or you get given a compliment, write it down. It helps build confidence.

“Make a list of all the reasons that you are capable and why you are able to get to where you want to be.

“Note down your strengths and qualities, and don’t focus on your perceived weaknesses. I am a big believer in getting excellent at what you are really good at rather than focusing on working on your weaknesses. What skill do you have that you can become really excellent at?”

“Write down how you felt going into your training, workout or event. What was your mental state? Do you find that when feeling down, in a bad mood or not up for it, you perform worse? Use this to recognise the powerful impact mindset can have and ensure that, come your next event, you’ll be in a happy headspace to perform.”

While the primary role of a coach is to improve sporting performance, they usually do far more than that for the athletes they work with, especially when they’re working with young people. It’s important for coaches to be trusted role models who support youngsters in all kinds of ways to help them develop both physically and emotionally.

Recognising this, the Sport for Development Coalition is co-ordinating a new campaign called #21by21, which aims to provide 21,000 community sports coaches and volunteers with mental health awareness training by 2021, so they are better able to support the young athletes they work with.

The campaign launches today, 13th May, with the support of more than 200 organisations and 40 national and regional sports agencies, including UK Coaching, the Premier League, the Rugby Football Union and the mental health charity Mind.

The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, which supports young athletes in disadvantaged communities, is also supporting the campaign.

“I know from personal experience that sport has the power to support young people to develop emotionally as well as physically,” says Holmes. “It builds self-esteem, confidence and often lifelong friendships. Making sure that everyone delivering sport for young people can spot signs of mental ill health and provide appropriate help when it’s needed adds to its benefit.”

See related 

• What You Should Know About The Daily Mile For Primary Schools
  

A new report, “Sport For Better Mental Health”, published by youth charity StreetGames in partnership with Brunel University London, highlights the roles that coaches can play in supporting young people.

The report found that 43% of the 14- to 24-year-olds it surveyed said they would turn to their coach for emotional support and advice, and 20% would confide in a coach about something that was worrying them.

Those living in households with an annual income of £20,000 or less were even more likely to confide in their coach than those from more affluent backgrounds, which is particularly important because disadvantaged teenagers are three times more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those from more privileged families.

However, many of those surveyed said it was far harder to discuss mental health problems than physical ones, and the older the person the harder they found it to open up. Part of the training provided to coaches through the #21by21 campaign will help coaches encourage their athletes to talk about any mental health problems they might be suffering with.

“Coaches across the country tell us that they regularly see signs of mental ill health in their sports projects – young people experiencing depression, anxiety, alienation, and sadly sometimes self-harm and suicide,” says Jane Ashworth, chief executive of StreetGames. “They say that they want to help but feel ill-equipped, not knowing what to say or how to direct youngsters to appropriate specialist support.

“Our aim is to make Mental Health First Aid training for youth sport coaches and volunteers across the UK as commonplace as physical first aid.”

Coaches looking to get involved in the campaign can head to the #21by21 website to find a mental health first aid training provider near them. Employers can help the campaign while also getting mental health training for their staff through the Buy One Give One initiative. By paying for training for their staff, employers also fund mental health training for coaches working with disadvantaged young people.

For more on this initiative, visit the Street Games website or call 0161 707 0782.

Gym chain Anytime Fitness and mental health charity Mind have partnered to launch National Workouts & Wellbeing Week, which runs from 25th to 31st March and offers the chance for everyone to exercise for free in any of the 160-plus branches of Anytime Fitness across the UK.

As well as the free workouts, the gyms will be offering talks, wellbeing sessions and competitions, so there’s plenty to get involved in even if you don’t fancy a training session.

The week will highlight the link between exercise and mental wellbeing, with regular physical activity recommended by Mind and the NHS as a way to promote good mental health. Not only can exercise improve your mood and raise your self-esteem, it can also counteract a poor diet and being overweight or obese, which are more common in people who suffer from mental health problems.

See related 

• Regular Exercise Linked With Improved Mental Health, As Long As You Don’t Go Overboard
• “I Worry Less Now, Because I Run More” – How Running Can Help Your Mental Health

“We all know that being more active can improve our physical wellbeing, but it’s also great for mental wellbeing too,” says Hayley Jarvis, head of physical activity for Mind.

“We believe in the importance of making physical activity more accessible to people with mental health problems and it’s fantastic that Anytime Fitness is able to offer free access for people wanting to dip their toes in the water with fitness.”

Having a week’s free access to the gym is a great opportunity to try a few different kinds of exercise. Here at Coach we reckon everyone can find an activity they enjoy, so even if you’ve always felt that popular ways to keep fit like running, swimming and lifting weights aren’t for you, keep trying different things until you find something you do enjoy. That’s the best way to ensure you’ll keep on doing it and reap the benefits.

As part of National Workouts & Wellbeing Week, Anytime Fitness will also donate £10 to Mind for anyone who becomes a member during the week. You can find your closest Anytime Fitness gyms by searching by postcode on its website, where you can also register to get involved.

No-one would struggle to follow the logic involved in the statement “doing things you like for at least 30 minutes a day makes you happier” – so it’s remarkable how few of us actually do it. It may feel like time is always against us but with a little planning, most people can find that 30 minutes, and the benefits of doing so shouldn’t be underrated.

Art Fund, the national charity for art, has collaborated with Professor Paul Dolan, behavioural scientist at the London School of Economics, to create a report that highlights how men in particular don’t make time for themselves by doing things like visiting museums and art galleries.

The report found that 58% of men do not make deliberate choices to improve their wellbeing, even though an impressive 72% of people who make time for a hobby are satisfied with life overall. In contrast, only 47% of men who don’t make time for a hobby are satisfied with life.

We spoke to Dolan and Stephen Deuchar, director of Art Fund, about the report and the benefits of making regular time for your hobbies.

How does taking 30 minutes of downtime a day to do things like visit museums improve your wellbeing?

“The experience of going to museums and galleries can provide an active break from the day-to-day,” says Dolan. “It’s a chance to step away from the desk, enjoy a change of scene and pursue a less passive form of leisure activity.

“Because everyone has different tastes and opinions on art, galleries can be calming, stimulating, inspiring, invigorating and everything else besides.

“Visiting once a week, or even just once a month, can impact our lives in many ways – giving us additional topics of conversation within our social circle, helping us learn new things in a fun way and giving us moments of calm to reflect."

Do you have any tips about how you go about finding 30 minutes in your day?

“Most of us have the time – we just don’t find the time,” says Dolan. “We could all do with taking a step back every once in a while, and assessing what really makes us happy and miserable, and then implementing a plan that will make us happier overall.

“But changing the habits of a lifetime is hard. We need to build good practices into our daily routines and then persist with them for a couple of months before they stick. Set yourself realistic short, mid and long-term goals that will give you a framework to plan and make positive changes over time.

“Modern-day stressors can sometimes be of our own making – such as spending too much time on social media. We have far more control than we think we do over the management of our own time to avoid these stressors, and we can make an active choice to change.

“By making time for yourself more often, the more habitual the behaviour becomes and this will only have a positive impact on our overall wellbeing.”

See related 

• How A Digital Detox Can Help You Sleep Better And Be More Productive
• 3 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress And Anxiety
• Three Tips For Avoiding Burn-Out

Will any leisure activity provide the same benefits?

“One is not better than the other,” says Deuchar. “However people chose to spend that time, we want people to put themselves first by taking back time to do what really matters to them.”

Naturally, Deuchar considers museums and galleries a great option for this. “You don’t need to spend hours at an exhibition to feel the benefit. Drop in during a lunch break, mix up a weekly meeting by changing the venue to a gallery, meet up with a friend after work, or schedule in some dedicated ‘me time’ each week. There are plenty of ways to make museums and galleries fit into your life.”

The National Art Pass costs £70 and provides access to over 240 museums, art galleries and historic sites as well as a discount on entry to exhibitions at venues including the Tate and the Natural History Museum

The third Monday of the year is a notoriously tough day to get through in a positive frame of mind, thanks to a 2005 press release about “Blue Monday” that took on a life of its own. This is when you can expect to be reminded that the joys of Christmas and New Year are well in the past, spring is a long way off, and you’re facing down the bone-chilling dark days of midwinter – plus the start of another working week.

Since it has become such an infamously depressing day, the good people at Samaritans have stepped up to try and counter it with their initiative Brew Monday, which encourages people to have a tea and a chat with a member of their family, or a friend or colleague, to help talk over any problems they might be having, as well as fundraise for the charity.

You can sign up for a free Brew Monday kit on the Samaritans website which includes some special teabags, fundraising advice and little Brew Monday cake flags if you’re having a slice of something sweet with your tea. Over 100 train stations will also take part in the event, with stands in place to hand out the teabags and discuss the work done by Samaritans.

“We want to banish those so-called January blues and Brew Monday is a great opportunity to reach out to someone who’s struggling, while raising money to keep the service running around the clock,” says Beth Simons, community fundraising manager at Samaritans.

"It doesn’t have to be tea, or even a Monday! Juice, coffee or fizz on any day will do the trick. Sign up for your Brew Monday pack and we’ll send you everything you need to make your tea party a triumph!”

If you want to work out as well as having a nice cuppa on Blue Monday, then you can take advantage of DW Fitness First’s Red Monday event, where the gym chain opens up the doors of every branch to all comers so you can lift your spirits with a rigorous training session.

It’s no secret that many men struggle to open up about problems, especially if it’s to do with their mental health. Indeed, new research commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation for National Stress Awareness Day on 7th November found that less than a quarter of men (24%) suffering from stress had discussed it with a friend or family member.

Worse still, the survey found that almost one in three men (31%) drink alcohol, or drink more alcohol, to try to deal with stress. We spoke to Ed Davie at the Mental Health Foundation, about how you can recognise and deal with stress drinking.

How do you recognise that you are stress drinking?

The jargon term would be mindfulness, but that’s because what mindfulness really means is being aware of your own emotions and behaviour. Half the battle is for people to be honest with themselves.

This is difficult, especially for men – to face up to the fact that they’re not handling things as well as they might do. Instinctively men want to say to themselves and others, “I can deal with it, I can look after myself”, but you have to be aware that’s not always possible and that’s not a sign of weakness.

If you are dealing with it by drinking too much and anaesthetising yourself that’s really unhelpful. Alcohol is a depressant. You might feel good for a bit but the next day you’re going to feel awful and not just hungover. It can be very detrimental to your mental and physical health, and it doesn’t help you get to the root cause of what’s stressing you out and causing the problem.

See related

• 10 Symptoms Of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore
• Staying Sober When Socialising is Part of Your Job
• How Mindful Drinking Can Help You Keep Your Boozing In Hand This Christmas
• The Best Non-Alcoholic Beer (And Low-Alcohol Beers) Of 2021

How can you deal with stress in a healthier way?

It’s really good to talk to someone else. If it’s work-related stress it’s generally good to talk to your manager. A good manager will support you and recognise that you’re going to be the most productive you can be if they don’t overload you.

I recognise that not all managers are fantastic at that, but you can find other outlets – your partner, friends or other members of your family. The worst thing is to bottle it up, and not share your feelings and problems. The very act of sharing a problem can help. You find new ways of dealing with it and managing it.

Men are notorious for keeping things to themselves. Not going to the GP, not telling their partners and friends about what’s bothering them, self-medicating through alcohol and then, in the most extreme cases, committing suicide. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50, and quite a lot of those men have never come to the attention of medical services before. No-one knew they had a problem. What we need people to do is recognise when they’re not coping as well as they could and share it with someone.

And we need to look out for each other. You don’t have to be a psychiatrist to recognise when someone is not coping, drinking too much, not communicating like they used to, being moody. It’s important that we look out for each other, ask each other if we’re all right and ask more than once. The British way is to go “yeah, I’m fine” but we need to go a bit deeper than that.

If you work in a very boozy environment, how do you go about cutting back?

That’s really hard. I haven’t had a drink for nine years, but I used to be in a stressful environment as a political journalist in the Westminster lobby where there was a lot of alcohol around and lot of demanding deadlines. I knew I was stressed and I knew I was drinking too much, but I didn’t want to recognise it. In the end I got made redundant.

In a way I was fortunate I was made redundant and got a new job in a different work environment where there wasn’t that kind of culture. They didn’t know me as a drinker so I could reinvent myself as a sober person.

For some people, if they’re having a hard time and they’re really unhappy, a change of job or career is not a bad option. It certainly worked for me, though I wouldn’t have planned it the way it happened.

For those who don’t have that opportunity, going to the pub and not drinking is much more socially acceptable these days. When I first stopped people would think it was weird, but these days I know lots of people who drink alcohol but sometimes choose to drink non-alcoholic beer. And non-alcoholic beer is much nicer than it used to be!

If people know you as a drinker and expect it of you, then it is more difficult. But again, we have to support each other, and do what’s right for ourselves and our friends.

“When I’ve told some people, they’re like, ‘Oh you’re doing therapy?’, and they immediately think there’s something wrong.” That’s the experience of Charlie Watts, founder of London gym Manor and ex-MMA fighter, but his experience also shows that more of us than you’d think could probably get something out of therapy.

The guys at Manor are behind a series of panels called Strong Not Silent, culminating in a charity fight night between Manor’s boxers. It’s being put on in partnership with Lululemon (you’ll find a charity T-shirt in-store) and it’s all in aid of the male suicide charity CALM.

During the course of organising the series, Watts took the decision to try therapy. He spoke about that decision and his experience with Coach.

How did the Strong Not Silent series come about?

I got involved with the Campaign Against Living Miserably [CALM] because I was doing a 29km run and asked people on my Instagram stories who should I support. Someone pointed me in their direction and they’re an incredible charity doing incredible things. I’ve known people who have committed suicide and one of the guys at Manor is from Port Talbot which has the second highest suicide rate in the UK and he’s had close friends and family commit suicide, so I decided to support CALM on my run.

Manor runs three charity fight nights a year and we decided to support CALM at the November one. With World Mental Health Day in October and November being Men’s Health Awareness Month, we thought we could pull that all together using our network of brands that we’re associated with.

We have a close connection with Lululemon and have always wanted to do a series of talks with them. In the space of about two weeks we pulled together this campaign Strong Not Silent, geared towards men’s mental health. The message we’re trying to get across is that it’s OK to speak about mental health issues, or more emotional thoughts and actions such as suicide.

You spoke at the first event, Money, Power And Success. What did you talk about?

With this campaign we needed to lead from the front – that’s why I was on the first panel with the co-founder of The Office Group [Charlie Green] who’s a very successful businessman, while I’m obviously starting my journey in business. I was introduced to Charlie when I was a coach, so the angle was that when we’re in the gym he looks up to me, because I’m a physically powerful lad, and when I step into his world the roles are reversed and he’s a business mentor for me.

I spoke about how as a professional MMA fighter at the pinnacle of my fitness, strength and fighting capabilities, I felt different when I stepped into the business environment. It was full of all these people who may not train as much as me and may not be on my level in that respect, but I felt very intimidated, inadequate and just scared of the whole environment and situation.

What prompted your decision to undertake therapy?

I’m very into my personal development and have always been interested in the idea of therapy, but didn’t know why. Because I had a spot on the panel kicking off the first talk I really had to think about what I would talk about – my life journey and why I’ve made certain decisions. The facilitator is also a colleague and a close friend. We had quite a few long chats – he’s actually done some therapy in the past and he was really good at asking me the right questions to question my answers.

Hearing people who reached out to us and told us their stories, it’s just been quite emotional. Everyone’s got their issues and everyone behaves a certain way due to their programming and their life experiences. I discovered some things about myself, but it gave me more questions than answers and I wanted to delve a bit deeper.

How many sessions have you had?

I’ve had two so far, one every two weeks, although I’d like to have one a week.

Did the sessions go the way you thought they would go?

I thought they’d have a bunch of questions and the conversation would flow quite naturally, but you’re sort of left to talk, to start the conversation yourself. They’ll prompt you in a certain direction and ask you some questions, but with my therapist I’m left to really try and articulate myself the best I possibly can and delve deep myself. They don’t do too much digging.

It could be because I’m early on in my therapy, or the way they work as a practitioner, but unless you’re prepared to look within yourself to get the answer you may not get the benefits from therapy that you could be expecting. You have to be open to it and accept that you’re going to have to do a lot of work in the session and outside of the session.

What sort of thing do you have to do outside of the session?

For me, it’s noticing emotional, behavioural traits – the way I react to certain situations. It’s not that deep, but what I’ve analysed the most is that I’m always “OK” as an emotional state. I’m happy a lot of the time, but I never dip below OK for very long. And when I do I become quite anxious, then go back to OK again.

What that means is that if anyone ever pisses me off or if I’m upset, I personally don’t register those emotions or acknowledge them for very long, before pulling myself back up, subconsciously, to OK again. And that means I don’t communicate them. So my whole life I’ve been the good guy and that’s the story that I told myself, and the story that the people around me tell me.

But as CEO of Manor I need to express the way I feel. When I do feel those emotions I need to get used to them, let them sink in and be comfortable in that emotional state. I’m not saying you have to be upset or sad forever, but you have to vent your frustrations or anger in certain environments, in the best way possible.

Has therapy changed you?

It’s definitely changed me. It’s had an immediate effect. Literally the first week. It’s been great so far. It’s made me reconsider the way I enter certain relationships. And it all boils down to communication and managing expectations – making sure I’m communicating in the clearest way possible, whether it be with my partner, my parents, a colleague or an employee.

Do you have any advice for people who are wondering where to begin?

Just speak up. Speak to someone that you trust. There are also plenty of helplines out there. There are plenty of people to speak to. If you’re thinking about therapy, just have that first session. What’s the worse that’s going to happen?

The next Strong Not Silent event, on relationships, takes place on Wednesday 7th November at Lululemon Spitalfields. Tickets will be available soon. There are still tickets available to the charity boxing match at Cecil Sharp House on Thursday 15th November, which begins with a panel between a current and former fighter on vulnerability.

If someone you know seems to be going through a tough time and struggling with their mental health, it’s only natural that you want to help, but many of us don’t know where to start. How do you know for sure that there is a problem? And what’s the best way to approach it once you are convinced there is? Even if you’re wondering about your own mental health, it’s not always easy to recognise that there’s a problem and how to go about tackling it.

For expert advice on these questions we spoke to Craig Martin, global director of the mental health and suicide prevention program at the Movember Foundation.

How can you tell if someone is struggling with their mental health?

Some common signs include a general sense that they are not their normal selves. Some specific changes to look for include feelings of sadness and hopelessness, increased stress, and a diminished interest in the things and activities they normally enjoy, like hobbies, exercise or outings. They could be sleeping a lot or not very well, going through changes in appetite and weight, or displaying risk-taking behaviour such as increased drug or alcohol use.

Many symptoms can be explained by other things, so how do you recognise that they are actually being caused by poor mental health?

First, ask. People generally will tell you when things are not going well. They may have dropped weight due to exercise but they also may have lost their appetite as a symptom of depression. Generally, there will be a number of the above signs that tell you someone is struggling. We always encourage people to get in the habit of having a meaningful conversations with their friends, family members or colleagues.

How do you raise mental health issues if you see them in others?

Ask the question. You might need to ask the person how they are in a different way to solicit a meaningful response such as, “I have noticed that you haven’t been yourself lately, is everything OK?” From this point listen, follow your gut, but ask some more probing questions – don’t try to problem-solve or come up with solutions. Then encourage action: applaud the person for having the courage to speak up and ask them what they can do to take care of themselves – by eating and sleeping well, being active and getting exercise, and speaking to an expert if they may be depressed, anxious or struggling.

Finally, check in. Follow up a week or so later and see how they are going and if things have improved. You don’t need to be an expert to spark a potentially life-changing conversation.

For more tips on how to have a meaningful conversation, the Movember website has a section called I Want To Ask.

See related 

• Here’s How To Tell If You Should See A Doctor About Your Mental Health
• Would You Talk To A Colleague About Your Mental Health?

What are good steps to take if you are having problems with your mental health?

Firstly, speak up. Take the step and tell the people around you. Speaking up is the first step towards taking action to be more mentally healthy and strong. This may mean speaking to a healthcare professional, if you are concerned that you may be anxious or depressed.

Next prioritise your mental health and wellbeing just like you do your physical health and fitness. Eat well, sleep eight hours a night, limit or cut out alcohol or drugs, achieve a good work-life balance and spend time doing the things that make you feel good. This includes prioritising your social connections. Schedule a regular time to catch up with a mate. We know that strong social connections are linked to improved mental health including reduced risk of anxiety and depression.

Craig Martin was speaking ahead of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, an annual event that raises money for the Movember Foundation – this year’s takes place on Sunday 30th September in more than 40 cities across the UK. To date, the event has raised over £10m for men’s health. To find out more or donate visit gentlemansride.com

While you might consider running and practising mindfulness to be very different activities, there is a good deal of overlap in the benefits both can provide. Both, after all, give you the chance to take a break from the hubbub of everyday life, and if you struggle with the stillness of meditation, you might even find that running is a more effective way of doing so than traditional meditation.

Mindful running can be seen as using your running as an opportunity to set aside whatever in the past is troubling you, ignore any potential future problems and just be in the present. It’s an activity that can provide as much of a boost to your mental health as to your physical, giving you a reason to enjoy – and even look forward to – running that goes beyond simply losing weight or improving your fitness.

“People often struggle to find the motivation to get out for a run, approaching it with a view that they would rather be doing something else or that they are only doing it because they think they should for the physical benefits,” says psychotherapist Michelle Shanley, who is working with running-gear retailer SportsShoes.com.

“This negative perspective isn’t motivating. Instead, approach a run with an attitude of ‘I want to give my mind a rest, connect with my body, improve my wellbeing and offer myself time to appreciate my surroundings’. That presents a run as a positive opportunity, rather than an obstacle.”

How To Start Mindful Running

For your first foray into mindful running, Shanley recommends changing your route, or if you do have to stick with your usual route, at least run it the other way around.

“This will be a constant reminder to you that this run is different, and help you think about what different sights and sounds you’re perceiving,” says Shanley.

Shanley also recommends checking in on your body before you start running.

“Take a few moments before you start to really notice how your muscles are feeling,” says Shanley. “Notice if your shoulders feel tight or if your legs are heavy from your previous run. You might be aware of feeling energised or tired. Allow yourself to do this without berating yourself in any way, but instead use it to simply increase your awareness. Repeat this process when you return from your run, making sure to notice any differences.”

Getting to know your body will also have the benefit of enabling you to set mindful targets for your runs based on how you’re feeling.

“Increased body awareness enables us listen to what our bodies are telling us,” says Shanley. “As you become more adept at doing this you learn to tailor your run based on this information, rather that setting yourself goals that ignore how you are feeling that day.”

Listening to your body during your run can also help you avoid niggles turning into serious injuries. As you become accustomed to how your body feels at different stages of a run, you can identify which aches and pains are normal, and which might be a potential problem.

It’s all too easy to be harsh on yourself when running if you’re not performing as well as you’d hoped, focussing on negative thoughts like how hard the run is feeling or how far off a target time or pace you are. This is an issue that can affect you outside of your exercise routine too, of course, and Shanley suggest that taking a mindful approach can help you deal with this negativity.

“We are often our own harshest critic and this mentality can become toxic for our overall wellbeing,” says Shanley. "Awareness and acceptance provide the tonic to this and running provides the ideal opportunity to train your brain to be kinder to yourself. This is a practice that will not only benefit you while running, but will also benefit your overall wellbeing.

“Picture a large tree next to a gently flowing river. Every few seconds a leaf slowly floats down from the tree, lands on the river and slowly floats downstream. Every time you experience a thought that is unhelpful, picture it settling on a leaf and floating away.

“Accepting that you have these thoughts while knowing you do not have to internalise them enables you to feel increasingly empowered and autonomous.”

While many assume one of the requirements of a mindful run is that you get away from technology, you can also use technology to help you get used to the idea. The Nike+ Run Club app, one of the best running apps, has partnered with mindfulness app Headspace to provide a series of guided mindful runs, where Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe talks you through the process.

I gave the “End Of Day Run With Headspace” guided run a try on the Nike+ Run Club app, during which Puddicombe and Nike running coach Chris Bennett discuss how to run mindfully to release the stress of the day. This revolved around focussing on the body and the foot strike in particular as a way to drag your thoughts back to the present moment when you find yourself starting to think about work or other concerns. If you’re unsure of how to go about running mindfully and appreciate the idea of being taken through it step-by-step, these guided runs, which are all free on the Nike app, are a great place to start.

More About Mindfulness 

• Three Mindfulness Exercises To Try On The Way To Work
• How Mindful Drinking Can Help You Keep Your Boozing In Hand This Christmas
• Mental Health Awareness Week: How To Use Running To Help Your Mental Health

For many people stress is part and parcel of everyday life, and some can even thrive under the pressures ahead of a deadline at work. However, if left unchecked, stress can have a severely negative impact on your life.

Mental Health Awareness Week runs 14th-20th May and this year’s campaign is focussed on stress, making this week an apt time to check in on yourself.

With that in mind, work through this list of common stress symptoms put together by therapist Tim Hipgrave, emotional health lead at Nuffield Health, and see if any are familiar to you. If you can identify your stress, you can work on the causes before it exceeds your ability to cope.

1. Feeling Tired

“Stress has a physiological effect on your body by releasing hormones into your bloodstream that accelerate your heart rate and your breathing,” says Hipgrave. “This constant strain on your system can have an exhausting effect, leaving you feeling tired all the time.

“In a cruel twist, stress can also prevent you from sleeping. Stress has been found to activate the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in the brain, which plays a part in sleep-wake regulation. You may experience sleep loss and find that you are constantly going over the same issue in your head again and again. This is your brain working overtime to try to find a solution.”

RECOMMENDED: How Keeping A Journal Can Help Your Mental Health

2. Teeth Grinding

“Teeth grinding is a symptom of stress closely linked to a lack of sleep, because your subconscious has heightened activity and this plays out in your mouth,” says Hipgrave.

“Grinding your teeth can cause dental problems and also pain in your jaw, which can add to your suffering.”

3. Headaches

“Tension headaches are known to be brought on by stress – in fact they’re sometimes known as stress headaches,” says Hipgrave.

“Lasting anything from half an hour to a few hours, these headaches feel like pressure on either side of the head and can also be accompanied by a tense neck and shoulders. If you suffer these headaches frequently, it’s very possible that you are suffering from stress.”

4. Irritability

“Stress can affect our mood in ways that we find difficult to control,” says Hipgrave. “When we are stressed our nervous system is hyper-responsive and our sensory receptors are more sensitive to stimuli, making everything seem more intense. This can add to the feeling of perceived pressure, and make us more reactive.

“Often if you’re stressed some of the physiological side effects, such as a lack of sleep or a sore head, can also contribute to the effect on your mood.”

RECOMMENDED: How To Use Positive Thinking To Manage Stress

5. Tearfulness

“For some, the emotional responses to stress can lead to tears, as well as or instead of irritability,” says Hipgrave.

“But tears are not just an effect of stress – they have a function in supporting you through stress too. When you cry you release excess stress hormones such as cortisol in your tears, like a safety valve. So feeling better after a good cry isn’t an old wives’ tale – it’s down to the hormonal release.”

6. Loss Of Libido

“In order for your libido (sexual desire) to function properly, your hormone balance and neurological pathways need to be in sync,” says Hipgrave. “When you are stressed, you release stress hormones, which interfere with this balance and can lead to a loss of libido.”

“It’s common for people who are stressed to have a poor diet or to overeat,” says Hipgrave. “One factor is that stressed people will often be short on time and resort to unhealthy convenience foods.

“People who are in a stressed state may lose their appetite in the short term. This is because part of the brain called the hypothalamus produces a corticotropin-releasing hormone, which suppresses appetite. But people who are chronically stressed release cortisol, which increases your appetite, especially for sweet and starchy foods. This is where the term ‘stress eating’ comes from.”

8. Becoming Less Social

“Everybody has times in their life when they just want to relax in peace on their own, but when this becomes too common it may be an indication that you are stressed,” says Hipgrave.

“When everything feels like it’s getting too much, it’s a natural inclination to hide away, particularly if the stressor that you are reacting to is social. But social withdrawal will usually have a negative effect on your life, which can make things worse all round.”

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“One of the most direct effects stress has on our overall health is suppressing the immune system,” says Hipgrave. “This is because when we are stressed we release cortisol into our bloodstream and when cortisol is released, the immune-supporting hormone DHEA can’t be released at the same time, so our immune system suffers.

“So, if you find you’re catching colds very easily, or can’t shake them off, it may be because you have a reduced immune system, which can be a result of stress.”

“The chemicals released into your bloodstream when you experience stress increase your heart rate, as well as the speed of your breathing,” says Hipgrave. “This can be quite distressing and, if severe, can lead to feelings of panic including what are known as panic attacks. You might feel shortness of breath or start to panic as you hyperventilate. Hyperventilation is closely linked to anxiety, and can usually be resolved by removing yourself from the situation and actively trying to slow your breathing.”

Anxiety can affect your body in surprising ways and once you realise that the root cause of some physical complaints can be anxiety, it really hammers home how important it is to try and maintain good mental health.

Before you can deal with anxiety, you need to recognise it. We spoke to Fatmata Kamara, a mental health nurse from Bupa UK, for advice on what the physical symptoms of anxiety are and some first steps anyone can take towards dealing with the issue.

What are the most common physical symptoms of anxiety?

Anxiety can affect your body in many ways. You may feel light-headed or restless and have a fast or irregular heartbeat. You might also experience hot flushes, shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea. Symptoms vary from person to person, so it’s important to be aware of how anxiety can affect your body.

What are some of the more surprising physical symptoms caused by anxiety?

When you’re anxious, your body releases stress hormones and this can affect your body in many ways. A few surprising symptoms of anxiety include chest pains, muscles aches and headaches. You might also notice that your behaviour, sleep pattern, appetite and concentration levels can all change.

What symptoms should people not ignore and make sure they consult a doctor about?

Although feelings of anxiety at certain times are completely normal, anxiety can become a mental health problem when it happens regularly for a prolonged period of time. It’s important to seek help if your anxiety is affecting your daily life or causing you distress. If you’re experiencing feelings of dread or a loss of control and you’re avoiding situations that others find manageable, make sure you seek help. If any of these symptoms apply to you, you should speak to your GP. They will ask you some questions to try to find out what is causing your anxiety.

If you don’t seek help, how can the physical symptoms of anxiety worsen?

It’s important to always seek help, because your symptoms can get progressively worse. You may find that your anxiety becomes uncontrollable, and this can have a huge impact on your emotional and physical wellbeing.

See related 

• Here’s How To Tell If You Should See A Doctor About Your Mental Health
• 10 Symptoms Of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore
• 3 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress And Anxiety

People often struggle to recognise anxiety within themselves, so is there any way to differentiate between symptoms caused by anxiety and other causes?

There are certain other conditions that overlap with anxiety. These include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder. Depression and anxiety also have similar symptoms.

It can be difficult to distinguish anxiety from other, similar conditions. But if you’re experiencing any symptoms that are affecting your everyday life, it’s important to seek help. If you’re finding it difficult to cope, talk to someone you trust. This might be a friend, relative or your GP. Support groups can give you information and advice too.

What are the best first steps towards dealing with anxiety?

A simple, first step is acknowledging your anxiety – this can help you manage how you’re feeling. Once you’ve accepted your anxiety, there a few things you can do to help.

• Write down your thoughts: If you’re spending your days worrying about things, noting them down can help you understand what’s causing you to feel anxious. Or, if you’re on the move, phone apps such as MindShift can help you record your feelings.
• Give yourself a break: Anxiety can be all-consuming, so try to take some time out each day to relax. Whether it’s going for a walk or reading your favourite book, it’s important to find time for yourself.
• Strive for a healthy lifestyle: When you exercise, your brain releases hormones called endorphins, which can improve how you feel. Eating a balanced diet that’s full of vitamins and minerals can also keep your brain and gut healthy. Try to avoid caffeine too, because it can cause or increase feelings of anxiety.
• Ask for help: Dealing with anxiety can be difficult. Talking to someone you trust about how you’re feeling can help – which could be a friend, a relative, a doctor or someone else altogether, as long as you think they can help you. .

Even if you’re aware of the importance of discussing your emotions and mental health, it is still a big step to actually open up and start talking. Attending a retreat dedicated to help you connect with your underlying emotions, then, is likely to feel like a huge step, but it’s a commitment to improving your mental health that can be life-changing.

Jordan Stephens of hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks accepted a complimentary place at The Bridge Retreat to help him open up about his emotions and past trauma, something he thinks can be tough for men because of the pressure society places upon them.

“I went through a break-up last year,” says Stephens, “but it was a little bit bigger than the immediacy of that situation. It was dealing with emotions and wounding that I’d experienced growing up and since becoming famous.”

“I’ve been part of campaigns and spoken out about this stuff in the past, but the most powerful piece of writing I did was deconstructing my own existence and being very truthful about the privileges and toxicity that weren’t necessarily my own, but that I believe had been hard-wired into me by society. In film television, media, role models – that kind of thing.

“I was choosing to approach my sadness by sitting in it. I found the process very difficult. It took me to the very depths of my existence. I channelled a lot of my pain creatively – I was really trying to get the toxicity out of me. I came across The Bridge about that time. And I was brought into the path of Donna Lancaster, who runs The Bridge alongside Gabi Krueger. I went to a one-day workshop on relationships in Shoreditch and I really got along with her. I think she is an incredible woman, and we shared a similar idea about what it was in terms of my gender I was trying to break through, and the conditioning that was preventing me from truly understanding myself.”

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Soon afterwards Stephens attended a six-day retreat with The Bridge, and though he was keen not to give too much away about what happens at the retreat itself, he was unambiguous about the significant effect it had on him.

“It transformed my life,” says Stephens. “I don’t want to divulge too much information, because if you do it then knowing less about it is beneficial, because you’re not unconsciously preparing yourself for the experience. It’s kind of like reading a review before seeing a film. But I’d like to give enough information to encourage people to go, because I’ve never known six days to be so transformational in terms of someone’s idea of themselves.”

“You’re in a group of eight to 14 people, of all different races, creeds, classes, from different countries. By the end of the programme, I swear I had fallen in love with this group of people. Vulnerability is true intimacy and you only realise that when a few days after meeting total strangers, you feel like you’ve known them for years. It’s incredibly powerful.

“There are no phones or laptops allowed so there’s nothing to distract you. You experience emotion, in solitude and in groups. The six days are set up in a particular way to non-abrasively massage out trauma and things we’ve decided to lock away for our own safety, which have been manifesting in our lives in other ways.”

Stephens suggests that this can be an incredibly important process for men in particular.

“My opinion is that for men, emotion is projected in a different way from women. That’s a big generalisation, but purely based on the fact that society dissuades openness in emotion for men. Obviously it’s not just for men, it’s beneficial for everyone, but I found that you’re tapping into something you as a man haven’t been allowed to see. Again that’s a generalisation, but there is this undertone of the way men interact with each other in groups, and with their fathers, and the way they’re seen on television and stuff.”

“A lot of the week is getting into your body and asking how you’re feeling. By the end of the week you feel lighter, physically lighter – it’s bizarre! They say ‘a weight off your mind’, but I mean it’s a weight off everything. It’s very special.”

Naturally, attending a retreat won’t stop hurdles cropping up in your life, but Stephens believes he now has the means to deal with problems in a more positive way.

RECOMMENDED: How To Tell If You Should See A Doctor About Your Mental Health

“The major shift is in how I experience my emotions, anxieties and frustrations,” says Stephens. “You’re brought into a state of consciousness where you can be aware of what they are and you can put in preventative measures so they don’t totally ruin your day.”

“And it can be a tool for all relationships – romantic, family, work. You notice your interactions with a person. Someone might say something that hurts you, but the second you understand what it is that you’re projecting into that situation, you can choose to not be hurt by it.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s the most beneficial work anyone can ever do – inner work on yourself. For people to be walking around, equipped with the means to move towards living peacefully within their own world, is great. Who doesn’t want that?”

Coach spoke to Stephens about ten days after he got back from The Bridge, so we wanted to know whether he thought what he’d learned would stick with him six months down the line, or even further into the future.

“You can’t unlearn it,” says Stephens. “I’m not naïve enough to think I’m going to be walking around jolly all the time, but I have tools to deal with things now. Now if I go into any awful experience, or experience more grief or loss or tragedy, I’m not saying I’m going to be fine, but it does mean I have a better understanding of how to work through it healthily.”

Keeping a sharp eye on the amount you’re drinking is a good move any time of the year, but it’s especially worthwhile during the festive party period, when you can easily slip into the habit of boozing most days to celebrate the season.

There’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence around Christmas, of course, but if you’re drinking more than you want to, or just to make interminable office parties more bearable, it’s worth re-evaluating your approach to alcohol.

The organisation Club Soda helps people look at and, if they want, change their drinking habits, so Coach spoke to co-founder Laura Willoughby about mindful drinking and how it can help keep your booze consumption under control this Christmas.

What is mindful drinking?

Mindful drinking is about setting your own rules about drinking – thinking about when, where and at what times you really want to drink.

So the key is just to think about it, not necessarily to cut out all drinking?

Yeah, at Club Soda we don’t like telling people what to do. It’s about what you want to achieve – looking at all your health goals and thinking about where alcohol fits in.

RECOMMENDED: Five Easy Ways To Cut Down On Drinking Alcohol

What are the reasons people end up drinking without thinking about it?

We’re in a very alco-centric society. We use alcohol to celebrate, to commiserate, to be social… we’re taught to use it for everything. So it’s about cutting a few of those reasons out. Maybe not drinking alone – if being social and having a drink with mates is important to you, then maybe save your drinking for then.

Some people are beginning to make decisions about not drinking during the week, or not drinking alone, saving the time they do drink for a special night out rather than as a everyday habit. It also means that if they’re thinking about their diet and going to the gym they’re not undoing their hard work through mindless drinking.

How do you start mindful drinking and what are the common pitfalls?

It’s all about planning and thinking through the week ahead. If you know you’re going to be at events where there is alcohol present and it’s a day that you don’t want to drink, then think about what you’re going to drink instead. You might want to make sure you pick a pub that has a good alcohol-free beer. Or you might say, “I don’t want to drink on Friday so I’m not going to go out”. Learn to say no to people and look at activities to do with your mates that don’t involve drinking.

It might also mean having an alternative drink at home, so if you’re trying to avoid drinking wine while cooking you might still want to drink something nice – a good alcohol-free wine or beer, or a craft soda.

RECOMMENDED: The Best Non-Alcoholic Beer (And A Few Very-Low-Alcohol Beers)

Then if you have mates who are really persistent you might want to be really clear with them – tell them you’ve decided you're not going to drink on these days and why. Be clear that you’re doing something that’s important for you.

That can be the hardest part for people. Do you think the key is to get ahead of the peer pressure?

Yes, and make it clear what you don’t want them to do. If you think they’re the mates who are going to put you under pressure, say that it would really help if they didn’t. Be very specific.

It doesn’t mean you don’t go out. I go the pub more now I’m not drinking. Being social to me is about being in social places and I just don’t get the hangover the next day anymore.

Do you have any specific advice for the Christmas party season?

One thing is to recognise that if you’re bored somewhere, it’s OK to go home. It’s mad that we drink in order to stay somewhere where we’re not enjoying ourselves. Then you have the hangover the following morning and think, “it was a shit night and I’ve got a hangover”. That’s a real double whammy. Give yourself permission to go home if you’re not enjoying yourself.

You don’t have to go to every party, and there are loads of things you can do that aren’t so centred around drinking. You can go to Christmassy events without the need to drink alcohol. Look around for the things you haven’t tried before because this year you’re not just going to be standing in a pub handing cash over the bar. You can experience new stuff with friends and family.

The other thing is not to have an alcoholic drink for your first two drinks. Then make a decision. If you can delay your first drink it really helps. And if it’s a pub event get there before or just after everyone else, then you can get your own drink and not get caught up in rounds.

People are far less bothered about what you’re drinking than you think they’re going to be. And bar staff want you to be there and enjoy yourself, so tell them you’re not drinking but don't want to make a big deal out of it. Take your time at the bar, they will find you something nice. Then go up and ask for the same again and the bar staff will know it’s just a tonic or an alcohol-free beer or whatever.

How can people get involved with Club Soda?

If you go to joinclubsoda.co.uk there’s loads of advice and tips. We have a community of nearly 15,000 members all changing their drinking habits in all sorts of different ways, and we don’t tell anyone what to do. What we want to do is give everyone the skills to not feel out of place when not drinking.

Club Soda is hosting a Mindful Pub Crawl on 18th January, which will visit some of its recommended pubs for low-alcohol and alcohol-free drinks. For more info visit joinclubsoda.co.uk

Sleep, along with diet and exercise, is one of the three key parts of a healthy lifestyle, and it’s perhaps the hardest area to improve. You can decide to go for a run or eat a bowl of broccoli, but however hard you try you can’t force yourself to nod off – and trying really hard to sleep is likely to be counterproductive.

What’s more, the focus on getting eight hours of rest every day can make us more stressed – but it shouldn’t, says Dr Petra Simic, clinical director of Bupa Health Clinics. It’s an unrealistic demand for many people because it ignores the individual nature of sleep.

“Putting a number on how many hours of sleep we should get just isn’t realistic,” says Simic. “When we talk about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sleep we’re creating fear about something that is as personal to you as a fingerprint.”

Simic suggests that when people think they are not sleeping well, they are basing that on how other people sleep.

“I hear people say all the time that they ‘don’t sleep well’,” says Simic. “When you dig a bit deeper most of the time they are comparing themselves with those closest to them – usually their partners or the people they live with.

“Instead of judging yourself on the habits of others, ask yourself how you feel about your sleep. The amount of sleep someone needs really varies, and we need to think about our individual needs when it comes to getting a good night’s rest.”

See related

• How To Sleep Better
• The Best Sleep Trackers To Help You Catch Some Quality Zzzz
• How To Power Nap At Work – And Why

Missing the amount of sleep you need when it’s not feasible also isn’t necessarily a cause for concern – you can catch up on your snooze when the opportunity arises.

“Yes, a full night’s sleep every night is the ultimate goal, but for most people, this is an unrealistic expectation because they have children or work late hours,” says Simic. “So when you get the opportunity for a good, long sleep, take it.

“Recharging your batteries with an extra-long sleep at the weekend or during a holiday is something we should embrace and enjoy. Regular sleep binges will help your body to do all the repairing it needs to do, so don’t feel guilty about having an early night or a lie-in.”

Another way to top up your sleep is through napping if you have a schedule that allows you to catch some afternoon Zs.

“It may be hard to fit around work but a short nap of 20-30 minutes can help improve mood, alertness and performance,” says Simic, “especially in the early afternoon when blood sugar levels are low.

“Just remember that naps shouldn’t replace long periods of sleep, because those are when the real work begins and our bodies really get the chance to rejuvenate and repair.

“And like everything to do with rest, it’s entirely personal. Naps may be great for some, but not others – and that’s absolutely fine!”

All of us have experienced anxiety at some point in our lives, but this doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to recognise when anxiety goes from a short-term emotion to a long-term mental health issue.

Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson suffered with anxiety for a year before he realised what was wrong. Coach spoke to Thompson during Mo Mission, a Movember Move fundraising challenge in which a team of celebrities took on a series of SAS-style challenges over a 24-hour period.

How long did it take you to recognise that you were suffering from anxiety?

Fucking ages – like a year! I didn’t have a clue. I’d just feel really weird and tired. Like I had a veil over my eyes. I was fuzzy the whole time, like I wasn’t in the world. And I had really bad sleep patterns. I wouldn’t sleep for like three days.

I wasn’t living life at all. I honestly felt like I was dying. I kept it to myself for ages, which made it even worse. And then after a year I managed to figure it all out with the help of family and friends.

Who was it you spoke to who helped you realise it was anxiety?

It was actually my mum. I started crying to my mum, asking what was going on with me. She said it sounded like anxiety. Then I went to the doctor and she told me I had anxiety and gave me the way to deal with it. I strongly believe that you should talk to friends and family – that’s what I did and it really helped.

Now you’ve been through the experience, looking back is there anything that was a particular red flag you didn’t recognise at the time?

The veil over the eyes thing, where you feel like you’re in a dream world and you’re not quite… with everyone. That was the biggest red flag.

Did being in the public eye make it harder?

One hundred times. I didn’t have it until I was in the public eye. I remember when it first happened – I just couldn’t sleep. It just got worse and worse, and I was having to film. It was just as I was getting more prominent through Made In Chelsea that it started getting worse.

What has helped you deal with your anxiety?

You can go the gym or go for a run, which really does help – exercise is key in my experience. Talking to someone at the start was so key as well, because I didn’t know what was happening. It felt so good for someone to say “honestly, so many people have this problem”. Just to know what it is, and that loads of people get it – I felt instantly better.

That’s part of the reason I’m doing this – to make people more aware that it’s OK to talk to people about this stuff. It can save your life. I’m not saying I was going to kill myself but I was going down the road of desperation, because I didn’t know why I was feeling like I was and I couldn’t do anything about it.

See related :

• “I Worry Less Now, Because I Run More” – How Running Can Help Your Mental Health
• 3 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress And Anxiety
• Here’s How To Tell If You Should See A Doctor About Your Mental Health

How do you maintain good mental health day-to-day?

Having a routine. Everyone will have different opinions on this, but I believe having a good routine is the best thing you can do. Know what you’re doing day by day and just be active. That’s what I’ve been doing. There are ways you can help yourself and I really believe that exercise and activity are massive.

Anxiety comes in many different forms and it depends on the person. Mine was sleep deprivation and a feeling of fuzziness in the head, but for some people it can be sweating or heart palpitations. Anxiety is the reason for so many problems, and the problem is that there are not really many ways to combat it – there’s not a pill you can take or anything like that. You’ve got to get on top of it.

What I would say is that what you think might be an illness, if it’s not diagnosed as tonsillitis or something like that, then more than likely it is actually anxiety. I used to think “I’m dying, I’ve got this or that illness” but actually anxiety manifests itself in so many different ways. Just go and talk to someone, then you know. That’s when you start the process – by opening up about how you feel.

Support Sam and the team as they go the distance in the ultimate Mo Mission for Movember. Find out more at Movember.com

Some people will tell you that with the right mindset, you can overcome just about anything life throws at you. But how do you get the right mindset? Are people born with an innate ability to handle stress and surmount negative emotions, or is it something that you can learn with a little practice? Hopefully, it’s the latter, or most of us are drifting paddleless along a very suspicious-smelling creek.

In his new book, The Art Of The Good Life, Rolf Dobelli provides 52 short and snappy intellectual lessons that, taken together, form a mental toolkit fit to face down all of life’s troubles. We spoke to Dobelli about the book and a couple of our favourite tools from it.

What’s the premise behind the book?

“The question of what makes a good life is a question I can’t imagine going through life without asking.

“There’s a plethora of answers of how one should lead a life and they fit on a single strand. At one extreme you have maximising pleasure and minimising pain, and on the other is virtues – as long as you stick to certain principles and values it’s great, and maximising pleasure can even detract from a good life.

“I found a middle road which I think is a perfect way to navigate through the 21st century and that is Stoicism. It’s a philosophy that’s very applicable, but it’s not on one extreme or the other. They liked good stuff, but they didn’t have to have luxury to lead a good life.

“I also compared Stoic philosophy with the science of psychology that we know from the past 20 or 30 years and there’s a lot of overlap.

“I realised there wasn’t one button to press and you have a good life. We need a bunch of tools that help you lead a good life. Even then it’s not guaranteed, but you increase the chances.

“So I put together the toolbox of 52 mental tools that help you to lead a better life, or you can say a Swiss Army knife with 52 tools on it.”

That’s a big knife…

“Yes! Coming from Switzerland I like to use the metaphor of a Swiss Army knife. A Swiss Army knife doesn’t solve all the problems in the world, but it helps with a whole range of problems. And in every situation you don’t need all the tools, you just need one or two.”

How long does it take to use these tools to change your mindset?

“Sometimes it just clicks, and sometimes it takes practice, a lot of practice. I think getting toxic emotions out of your life – envy for example – might take half a year, a year, or ten years. It’s a matter of practising.

“Take a screwdriver. The first time you used a screwdriver as a little kid you were not used to doing it, but eventually it becomes natural. It’s the same with these tools. The more you use them, the better you get at it.”

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You are inspired by ancient philosophers, but also modern figures like Warren Buffett, who features in the book regularly?

“Yes, Warren Buffett and especially Charlie Munger, his right-hand man. These are guys who are actually modern Stoics. A lot of what they say fits nicely into Stoic philosophy and modern psychology.”

One tool I liked in the book was the “five-second no”. Can you explain it?

"That’s a beautiful one. It’s the simplest one. It’s not my idea, it’s Charlie Munger’s idea – if you say no to 99% of things you’re not missing much.

“People ask you for a small favour – think about how you react. How often do you say yes without thinking twice? How often do you say no? Then looking back how often do you kick yourself for having agreed to it and how often have you regretted saying no? For me, I kick myself way more for saying yes than regretting saying no.

“The problem is you overcommit yourself. Then you’re not only fooling yourself but you’re also fooling the other person because you can’t really deliver. You have to make up excuses, you have to lie and it’s not good.

“It’s better to spend five seconds contemplating something – but not more than five seconds – and then answer. Don’t let people hang. And the standard answer is no, unless it’s really special. That’s how I do it and my life has gotten much better. It’s much calmer, I’m not overcommitting and I think I’ve been much more honest with other people.

“I always thought that yes was a good word and no was a bad word, because I wanted to be liked and loved, but I realised that no is the good word, and yes is the bad word.”

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“A lot of people struggle with anxiety. But they carry these worries subconsciously, which I call worrying in an unprofessional way. I started to worry professionally. You take ten minutes out of your week and write down all your worries. You will realise the list is not that long, maybe 12 points, 20 points – it’s not infinite. Once you’ve written it down, your brain becomes calm. You can go on with your life because you know it’s somewhere.

“You do this a couple of times and it starts to get boring, because you realise it’s always the same worries. Eventually you look at your list and you ask what can I do about it? In most cases there’s nothing you can do. Worrying if your favourite football team is going to win or if there will be a stock market crash next week – these are things we cannot know or influence, so you don’t have to worry about them. It’s the most stupid thing to worry about things you can’t influence – you have to accept them.

“Then with the other stuff where you can have an influence, you try to get the problems out of the way and your worries will decrease. They will crop up again, so you do this exercise again every once in a while. People worry all the time, but once you dissect it, it goes away, at least for a time.”

The Art Of The Good Life: Clear Thinking For Business And A Better Life is out now, RRP £12.99 (Sceptre), check price and buy on amazon.co.uk

When suffering physical health problems, men will often delay visiting a doctor until they cough up a lung or their leg turns completely black, so it’s perhaps not surprising that they show similar reticence about seeing their GP when it comes to their mental health. But new research from insurer Royal London still shows a disconcerting level of unwillingness to seek help for issues like anxiety and depression.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of the men surveyed who have experienced stress, anxiety or depression for longer than a week did not see their doctor about it. Women were more likely to go, but still 54% of them did not seek help in the same situation.

Even with more persistent problems people still hesitated to visit a GP, with only 38% seeing a doctor within a month and 21% saying they waited for more than six months before booking an appointment.

Furthermore, when people are diagnosed with problems, they are uncomfortable about sharing the information with their employer, even though work-related factors are one of the top triggers of mental health issues. According to the research, 59% of workers diagnosed with a mental health problem would not want any evidence of it on their work sick record.

RECOMMENDED: Would You Talk To A Colleague About Your Mental Health?

GPs questioned in the research also said that one in six people ask for their stress, anxiety or depression issues to be concealed when the doctor writes a sick note for their employer.

These are all alarming stats, but do little to help people open up about their problems, so here’s some practical advice about seeking help, courtesy of mental health charity Mind.

Seek help if you…

• Are finding it difficult to cope with your thoughts and feelings.
• Find that negative thoughts and feelings are having an impact on your day-to-day life.
• Want to find out about available support.

RECOMMENDED: 10 Symptoms Of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore

Who should you get get help from?

Whoever you feel most comfortable speaking to, which could be:

• Your GP, in person or over the phone.
• Your friends or family.
• A mental health organisation online. The Mind website is a good place to start, and the charity also has a helpline.

What should you say?

While there are no wrong way to describe your feelings, some of these pointers may help communicate your situation.

• Be honest and open.
• Focus on how you feel, rather than what illness you suspect you may have.
• Try to explain how you’ve been feeling over the past few months or weeks and anything that has changed.
• Use words and descriptions that feel natural to you.
• Try not to worry that your problem is too small or unimportant – everyone deserves help and your doctor is there to support you.

Tips for dealing with and preparing for an appointment

• Write down what you want to say in advance and take your notes in with you.
• Give yourself enough time to get to your appointment and if you’re feeling nervous, let your doctor know.
• If you’ve talked to your family or friends about how you feel, you might want to take someone with you to your appointment or practise what you might say to your GP.
• Use anything you need to describe how you feel – highlight or print out any information you’ve found that helps you explain how you’re feeling.
• Take your time. If you have a few things to talk about, you can ask for a longer appointment when you’re booking it.

Exercising for just an hour a week, regardless of the intensity, can help prevent depression, according to new research on 33,908 people who were tracked for 11 years.

The study – led by scientists from the Black Dog Institute, which conducts research into mental health issues – concluded that around 12% of cases of depression could have been prevented if the participants had done one hour of exercise a week.

It was also found that participants who did not do any sort of physical exercise were 44% more likely to develop depression than those who did one to two hours of exercise a week.

"We are still trying to determine exactly why exercise can have this protective effect, but we believe it is from the combined impact of the various physical and social benefits of physical activity,” said study lead Professor Samuel Harvey of the Black Dog Institute.

Previous research has suggested that exercise can help in treating the symptoms of mild depression, with the evidence strong enough, and the potential downsides of exercise so minimal, that many GPs prescribe physical activity as a treatment.

Any sort of exercise can have an effect – for example, a small German study conducted earlier this year found that bouldering could reduce a depression sufferer’s symptoms from moderate to mild. Many runners also say that one reason they stick with the sport is the mental health benefits it provides.

RECOMMENDED: “I Worry Less Now, Because I Run More”

Despite these positive findings it’s important to note that depression is a varied condition and what works for one person could have the opposite effect in another. The study also only found that 12% of cases could be prevented by regular exercise – it’s far from a cure-all.

That said, it’s always worth highlighting the potential mental health benefits of exercises, especially if you only have to do one hour a week to obtain these benefits. Hopefully that’s less than you're doing already, because the NHS guidelines are 150 minutes a week plus a couple of strength workouts, and everyone follows guidelines that are designed to make them healthier and happier, right?

Not all addictions are hugely self-destructive ones like narcotics or smoking. Many of us are constantly craving something, whether it’s a bet, unhealthy food or just that buzz when one of our social media posts gets liked. And when this becomes a habit, it can affect our productivity, our health and our relationships.

When psychiatrist Dr Judson Brewer set up a pilot study to see if mindfulness could help people quit smoking, he hoped it might prove as effective as the American Lung Association’s tried-and-tested methods. The results surprised even him: subjects who used mindfulness gave up at twice the rate as those using the established approach – and they proved more likely to stay smoke-free.

Mindfulness, simply put, is the state of being highly aware of what’s happening, and you can use it to figure out when cravings are triggered, how they make you feel and how you can break the habit loops that cause them to happen repeatedly.

One of the key mindfulness techniques is a four-stage procedure that Brewer calls RAIN (recognise, accept, investigate, note) and it can be applied to any addiction, helping you put a stop to damaging habits once and for all.

1. Recognise

When you feel your craving come on, focus on it and recognise it for what it is, whether that’s the compulsion to raid the fridge, check the odds of the Man City vs Chelsea game or see if your Instagram post has reached 50 likes yet.

2. Accept

Allow the craving to be there. Don’t ignore it, distract yourself or try to do something about it. This is your experience. Find a way to acknowledge your acceptance – this could be a word or a phrase (“I consent”, “Here we go”) or a simple nod of the head.

3. Investigate

To catch the wave of wanting, you have to study it carefully, investigating it as it builds. Do this by asking, “What does my body feel like right now?” Don’t go looking. See what arises most prominently. Let it come to you.

4. Note

Make a note of the experience. Keep it simple: thinking, rising sensation, restlessness in stomach. Follow it until it subsides. This stage is also known as “Non-identification” because when we become aware of an object, we no longer identify with it as much.

The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes To Smartphones To Love – Why We Get Hooked And How We Can Break Bad Habits by Judson Brewer is out now, RRP £16.99 (Yale University Press). Buy on amazon.co.uk

See related

• Three Mindfulness Exercises To Try On The Way To Work
• 6 Ways To Break Bad Habits And Win At Life

The biggest mistake many people make with running is to view it as a torturous activity only to be undertaken with the aim of getting fitter. The truth is that while running is not a panacea for all of life’s ills, it should be an enjoyable pastime that can benefit both body and soul.

Darnell Hathaway, a 34-year-old father of two from Andover, started running on the recommendation of a friend and has found that it makes a huge difference to his mental wellbeing.

Hathaway works for Simplyhealth, partner of the Great Run series, and is tackling both the Great North Run and the Great South Run this autumn, having completed three other events in 2017 already. Coach spoke to Hathaway to find out how running helps with his mental health.

What mental health issues have you suffered with and what help have you sought?

“I’ve suffered from depression, insomnia, suicidal thoughts and anxiety. I used to hide how I was feeling very well though, so when people began to find out about what I was going through it took them by surprise.

“At first, I didn’t tell anyone for fear of being treated differently or having people walk on eggshells around me. There was also the stereotype that, as a man, you cannot express how you’re feeling and you’ve just got to get on with it and things will work themselves out in the end.

“I registered with a community mental health team, which consisted of weekly face-to-face counselling sessions. I was also put on anti-depressants and given sleeping tablets, owing to the insomnia I was dealing with as part of my depression.

“The medication and the counselling were a huge help and slowly I began to talk through more of what I was going through. My wife Rebecca has always been there for me, at every step of my recovery.”

How did you get into running?

“Although I was sporty as a kid, I wasn’t a keen runner. It was actually indirectly through krav maga – the self-defence system – that I discovered running.

“A fellow practitioner, in much better shape than I was, jokingly asked if I ran the two-point-something miles to class on a Sunday. ‘No chance, ever,’ I thought.

“One weekend, however, I decided to give it a go.”

Did you enjoy running immediately?

“At first, I hated every second of it. I would stop countless times. But I persevered and slowly started to notice I was stopping less and it was becoming easier.

“I found myself going out once during the week, then more and more regularly. My weight started to drop, which was certainly a welcome change! I’ve lost nearly two stone [12.7kg] since taking up running and that’s without being particularly strict on my diet.”

How has running helped your mental health?

“It has become a serious hobby. I think it’s the fact that when you’re out running you don’t think about anything other than where you’re going and that feeling of achievement at the end. Even if it’s just a smaller run or if you are running solo and want to think, you have that time by yourself with no interruptions.

“The best way I can summarise it is that I worry less now, because I run more.”

RECOMMENDED: Would You Talk To A Colleague About Your Mental Health?

Have you had ups and downs with running, or ever given it up?

“It’s funny you should be ask. Although I’ve never given up running – I’ve only been doing it for just over a year – I currently feel as though I’m on my way back up from a slump.

“I had a niggling calf injury that wasn’t shifting – I’m guilty of doing the ‘if I just ignore it eventually it’ll go away’ thing – which made me feel as though I couldn’t push myself as much. Also, things happening in my life meant that I wasn’t able to run as often. This started to affect my mood and also my motivation in regards to running and exercise.

“One of the great things about working for Simplyhealth is our staff Cash Plan. This enabled me to see a physio about my injury and start treatment, which has helped a lot with the physical side of the injury.

“I’m also slightly less busy currently which has meant I’ve been able to return to my usual routine, which has massively helped improve the emotional and mental side of things. At work, we’ve also launched an online movement hub, Millions Moving, which is a source of inspiration when I’m feeling low and in need of some motivation.”

Do you prefer running with others or by yourself?

“I don’t think I really have a preference. The majority of the running I do is by myself and it is nice to just go out and not really think about anything other than where I’m heading and taking in the scenery, or if you have something to think about being able to think about it.

“I do also enjoy company on a run and think that sometimes having someone there makes the run feel a bit easier because you can be distracted from how hard you are finding the run with conversation.”

RECOMMENDED: What Is Dynamic Running Therapy?

Do you enjoy training for big events?

“So far, since February this year, I have completed the Cancer Research London Winter Run 10K, as well as two of the Simplyhealth Great Runs – the 10K runs in Birmingham and Manchester.

RECOMMENDED: 10K Training Plans For Everyone

“I have the Great North Run, the Andover Food Bank 10K run, the Great Birmingham Run and the Great South Run coming up. I’ve also put my name into the 2018 London Marathon Ballot!”

We would say that’s an emphatic yes…

Hathaway works for healthcare company Simplyhealth, the title partner of the Great Run Series. For tips and motivation on how you can get more active, visit millionsmoving.co.uk

If you have concerns about your mental health the most obvious first ports of call are friends and family. But considering the amount of time most people spend at work, does it make sense to stay completely silent about the topic there?

With its Not A Red Card campaign, financial services company Legal & General aims to make discussing your mental health in the workplace as natural as discussing the latest physical fitness fad.

To find out more about the campaign and to get advice on how to look after your mental wellbeing (and others’), we spoke to former professional footballer Clarke Carlisle, a man who has been admirably open about his own mental health issues.

What are the aims of the Not A Red Card campaign?

Legal & General is trying to use sport and humour to get people, but especially men, talking about mental health in their workplace.

Men are more likely to suffer from adverse mental health and the highest suicide rates are in men between the ages of 18 and 44.

We spend more waking hours with work colleagues than anyone else. Who better to discuss what’s going on in your life and in your work environment than those who are going through it with you? The campaign wants to normalise these conversations so that people start to address their mental wellbeing and encourage employers to put a support network in place that is visible to employees.

What kind of conversations can people have about mental health at work?

There’s a huge disparity between how we treat physical and mental wellbeing. If I say physical health you immediately go to diet, or exercise – things like that. If I was to say mental health the connotations are immediately depression or nervous breakdowns – they’re all very negative and focused on the worst-case scenario.

That’s what we need to try and change, especially among guys. We would have no qualms saying, “I’m not eating potatoes or any carbs this month, because I've heard it does this…” We need to be having these conversations about our mental health.

When I say mental health I don't mean huge depression or anxiety, or schizophrenia, I’m talking about the maintenance of everyday wellbeing. I might say, “I had to take five minutes to step outside and go for a walk, because I felt a bit claustrophobic in here”. Or, “I couldn’t really concentrate but just having a five-minute walk really cleared my head”.

That is about mental health – but that’s not how most of us would view it at the moment.

The aim is to discuss small issues early to avoid greater problems down the line?

Definitely – early intervention and prevention.

With the issues you have suffered with, did you feel unable to talk about them at the time?

I didn’t feel like I could discuss them because I didn’t know there was something going on. There were things that, with hindsight, were blatant flags that there was something wrong but I just thought that I was an idiot who repeatedly made bad life choices.

I would binge-drink to blackout, or sit in a casino for hours and hours, or have some gratuitous sex, or play computer games – the new Splinter Cell or Champ Manager – for hours.

Each time I would just think that I was making a bad choice, that I was being stupid, whereas with hindsight I can see that they were happening at periods in my life where I really wanted to change my emotional state. It might have been [because of] severe anxiety, or sadness, or a heavy bout of anger. I didn’t know how to process it, so instead of addressing it, I ran away.

All these external behaviours were me trying to get away from my mental health issues, but I didn’t know it at the time. How can someone address a problem if they don’t know they have a problem? That’s why we need to start having these conversations.

We need to start understanding what the symptoms are of the plethora of mental health issues people can have. I don’t go to a GP when I have emphysema and my lungs are in shutdown, I go when I’ve had cough for two or three weeks so they can have a look at it.

How do you bring these conversations into the workplace?

That will change from person to person and workplace to workplace. When I went to play at Northampton, I touched everyone, every day – a high five or a hug to say good morning.

That enabled me to get a baseline of behaviour for that person over a period of time. So then five or six weeks down the line I knew that if someone who was usually immaculately made up and well dressed came in all unkempt and scruffy for two or three days in a row there might be something going on.

How you start those conversations is by taking an interest in your work colleagues, authentically, and once you do that, that’s when you can start to identify any variations from their normal behaviour. There isn’t one specific symptom to look out for, it’s the change in that person’s behaviour.

So being able to discuss your mental health in the workplace is the result of better relationships with your colleagues?

Yes, and often what we find is within our working groups behaviour needs to be ratified – it’s a permission-based environment. If you’re in an environment where these conversations don't happen, it’s highly unlikely that someone will start it. But once one person does, it gives permission for others to also do it. One way to counteract that is to have senior management endorse this behaviour.

Don’t be afraid. If you’re in a workplace that has three people or more, there are at least two of you who have experienced something! We’re not talking about tragedy and disaster, although that is a percentage of people’s experience.

There are people who get the sweats when they first walk into a meeting room, or struggle for breath when they meet new people, or have a loss of short-term memory for some inexplicable reason. These are all little things that register on the mental wellbeing scale and there are ways to deal with them. Sharing that with someone else will not only help you, because you’ll feel better, but it will also help them.

What should you do if you don’t have the confidence to talk to someone about your mental health? Can journaling or talking to yourself help?

It’s a magnificent coping mechanism and tool, it really is. We’re huge advocates of talking to people about what’s going on. You don’t have to be like me, you don't have to tell everyone, but it’s imperative that you tell someone.

If you can’t verbalise things then writing them on paper or addressing yourself in the mirror is as effective as having that first conversation. It gets the thoughts that are bouncing around in your head out of your mind and once you voice something, the power it has diminishes immediately.

What I would say to someone who does write it down is that if you’re not going to share it with someone, then come back to it a day or two later. Reflect on what your thoughts were at that moment in time – was it a rational thought? And if not, why?

RECOMMENDED: How Keeping A Journal Can Help Your Mental Health

How else can you look after your mental wellbeing?

I have a routine I do every day as the simplest way of keeping tabs on myself. When I wake up in the morning I like to have a pot of black coffee and read my Bible. Then I go to work. Then every night between 10pm and 10.15pm I listen to relaxing classics on Smooth FM with Margherita Taylor, or Myleene Klass at the weekend, and I smoke my tobacco pipe.

If that doesn’t happen, then I will take five to ask why. I didn’t have a pot of coffee this morning because I had to get the six o’clock train to London. That’s quite all right. Whereas if I didn’t have my pot of coffee this morning because I really didn’t want to get out of bed and engage with the world, then that might give me pause for thought.

I have my own base level of behaviour, checking in with myself every morning and evening. If that starts to go awry, it’s usually a good indicator that there’s something to address.

Stress, whether it’s caused by work, relationships, finances or any other factor, creates what’s called a scarcity mindset. This is when you worry that you don’t have enough love, food, money or time, and that you never will – and it can seriously affect your motivation and happiness. In her new book The Stress-Proof Brain, psychologist Dr Melanie Greenberg outlines the positive-thinking techniques you can use to overcome this mindset and banish anxiety for good.

Focus on assets

Think about all the good things that you already have in your life: love, achievement, family and so on. Make a list if you find it useful. This will help remind you that the stressor is just a small piece of your life.

Fight your impulses

This skill involves deliberately not doing what your brain’s “fight, flight or freeze” response tells you to do. If your brain is telling you to constantly monitor your girlfriend’s Facebook page, write down your worries instead. If you’re tempted to send an angry email, moan to a sympathetic friend. Resisting the urge to act destructively will protect your health and your relationships.

Welcome distraction

Instead of obsessing over what’s stressing you out, find something else to focus on: anything from doing a crossword or reading a book to watching sports or going to the gym – organise your sock drawer, if that works for you. This allows your brain to rest and lessens the damaging impact of stress.

Identify priorities

What’s most important to you? Is it family, security, time freedom, meaningful work, a sense of community or living a balanced life? It’s easier to make good decisions under stress when you’re clear about what’s most important to you. You’ll be able to decide how you spend your time and energy, and say no to the less essential things.

Prepare a strategy

Stress can compel us to make impulsive decisions. Make a list when you go to the supermarket and put appointment reminders in your phone. Don’t take your credit card shopping – get cash out first and limit yourself, or take a frugal friend. And erase the phone numbers of unavailable love interests (such as married exes) so that you won’t call them when you feel weakened by stress.

The Stress-Proof Brain by Melanie Greenberg is out now, RRP £12.99 (New Harbinger), buy on amazon.co.uk

1. Stick to one task at a time

Our memory starts to decline from the age of 20, according to the University of Michigan, so you need to get smart. The best thing you can do for your brain is to stop multitasking and prioritise one task at a time. Research from the journal NeuroImage found that subjects suffered a 29% drop in mental processing power when doing two tasks simultaneously, and that brain activation for listening fell 53% when subjects were trying to process visual input at the same time.

RECOMMENDED: How To Manage Tech Distractions And Focus On Work

2. Allow your mind to wander

It might sound counter-intuitive, but if your mind starts to drift during an important task then don’t try to fight it – let it wander for a while. Research in the journal Consciousness And Cognition found that allowing a little downtime during busy or stressful periods allowed subjects to return to work with increased creativity and greater problem-solving ability. Even better, go for an actual wander rather than just a mental one to get some fresh air and clear your head.

3. Learn after lunch

If you have to get to grips with something new, then do so in the afternoon: subjects who received training after lunch performed far better on subsequent memory tests than those who had been training in the morning, according to the Brazilian Journal Of Medical And Biological Research. And taking time to go over what you’ve learned before bed can help cement the newfound knowledge in your memory, according to research in the online journal PLOS One.

Anyone who runs, walks, cycles or does any kind of exercise knows that the benefits of doing so extend beyond the physical. After the brief, endorphin-fuelled feeling of euphoria that follows a good workout fades, exercise can make a longer-term contribution to better mental health, especially if you use the time outdoors to explore any issues you might be having.

In his book Run For Your Life, psychotherapist William Pullen provides a guide to mindful running to help deal with any mental health problems, a practice he has named Dynamic Running Therapy (DRT). We spoke to Pullen about DRT and the importance of exercise in maintaining good mental health.

RECOMMENDED: Why You Should Pay Attention To Mental Health Awareness Week

What is Dynamic Running Therapy?

It’s a combination of mindfulness, exercise – primarily running and walking – and talk therapy. There doesn’t have to be talking, because running is often done solo, although the book does tell you how to do it with someone else as well.

The book provides a series of programmes and questions that you take with you when you run. These help you explore problems like anxiety, depression, relationships or anger. Most of it is based around your own relationship with yourself – asking you what’s going on and how you feel about that.

It’s not just about psychotherapy and problems. There are also guides for mindful running and walking. It’s what you might do anyway on a good country walk, especially when you’re by yourself. When I do it I’m not setting out to do mindful walking, I’ve just got into the habit of ambling – enjoying each breath and plant I walk past, and the crunch of gravel underfoot. It’s about becoming present.

RECOMMENDED: Mindfulness Exercises And Apps Even Cynics Will Want To Try

Why do you think it’s important to run while you do this?

That’s how I came to it myself. I was having a tricky time in my life and I got into psychotherapy to try and work my way out of it. I also took up exercise. I noticed that running with a friend while talking about my problems was incredibly therapeutic.

I believe exercise is a great way to familiarise ourselves with what’s going on inside ourselves. Anxiety and depression can make you feel powerless. When you decide to get up and go out, if you can, that’s already a good step in the right direction. Particularly if you push yourself that little bit harder. Enough to get the blood moving. The more you push yourself the more engaged you’ll feel in the process and the more you’ll find out what’s really going on inside of you.

Exercise helps cut through the distractions and get in touch with what’s really going on – it gives us clarity.

RECOMMENDED: Running For Beginners

Do you think lots of people already do this with their exercise unconsciously?

Absolutely – anyone that does a bit of running will be familiar with the change that happens between the beginning of your exercise and the end of it. You can feel overburdened and lost at the beginning of a run, and by the end of it you feel like a completely different person.

Run For Your Life: Mindful Running For A Happy Life by William Pullen is published by Penguin Life (£12.99), buy on amazon.co.uk

You’d expect Mental Health Awareness Week to call for more attention to be paid and assistance given to serious mental health problems (and it is). But this year the charity behind the initiative, the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), is widening the conversation to cover everyone’s mental health – yes, even yours – by asking: are you surviving or thriving?

In a preview podcast, the MHF’s Mark Rowland explained that the campaign wanted people to have a better understanding of, and know how to address, their own day-to-day mental health.

Rowland spoke about how many people felt that the requirements placed upon them were greater than the resources at their disposal. He likened it to standing in the sea and being buffeted by waves – expending a huge amount of energy just to stay above the water.

New research by the MHF released today shows how few people in the UK feel like they’re thriving. Of 2,290 people interviewed for the study, only 13% reported high levels of good mental health.

So what can be done to improve this state of affairs? The MHF has highlighted the problem of societal inequality: the charity’s research showed that a greater proportion of people in the lowest household income bracket experienced a mental health problem. This includes suggesting five steps to start remedying the issues, from the creation of a Royal Commission to an increase in research funding.

But on an individual level, there are a variety of things everyone can try in an effort to help improve their mental wellbeing, like improving resilience, eating well and exercising, and developing new, positive habits. We’ll be posting about these topics and more all week but to start, take the MHF’s survey to get an indication of how your mental health compares with the nation’s.

This simple seven-question quiz covers things like how often you feel useful and how well you feel like you’re dealing with problems. And whatever your responses tell you, the MHF has information and resources you’ll find useful.

Almost half of British people have had a conversation about mental health in past three months and 82% of those who have discussed their issues said that it helped, according to a new YouGov poll undertaken to mark the launch of the Heads Together campaign.

Heads Together is a coalition of eight mental health charities, including CALM – the Campaign Against Living Miserably – and Mind. To support the campaign, Heads Together has created a series of short films involving public figures such as Professor Green, Andrew Flintoff and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge discussing mental health in the hope it will push the issues further into the mainstream. Films featuring Rio Ferdinand and Stephen Fry will be released next month.

While the YouGov survey, which polled 5,000 people, was encouraging in showing that those who discussed their mental health benefited from the experience, it also found that men still lag behind women when it comes to talking about problems they are having.

Only 37% of men said they discussed mental health, compared with 54% of women. There is also a gulf between young and old people, with 57% of those aged 18 to 24 saying they had talked about mental health compared with just 32% of over-65s.

Heads Together is set to be the lead charity at the London Marathon this year, and if you have already secured a ballot spot in the event you can sign up to raise funds for one of the campaign’s partner charities at headstogether.org.uk.

You can view all of the Heads Together films on its YouTube page and get more information about the campaign and the charities behind it on the Heads Together website.

When was the last time you forgot something? Can’t remember? That’s no surprise. According to Australian research, memory loss can start as young as 20 – but you can halt the decline. That's why Coach's sister brand Men's Fitness put together these unforgetable ways to boost your brain power.

Brain training games or sudoku and crossword puzzles target specific cognitive abilities, but they don’t transfer to broader issues of problem solving, planning and more complex skills. Exercise, however, whether cardio or weights, has been shown to boost circulation, helping nourish your brain with nutrients and oxygen to perform optimally. Here are four other things proven to help you sharpen up – and you can put them into practice today.

Read More Shakespeare

A study from the University of California found reading can lower levels of a brain protein linked to Alzheimer’s. Lower levels of amyloid proteins were identified in the brains of those who read throughout their lives. Load your bookcase with challenging texts to give your mind a workout and push it out of its comfort zone, just like with your muscles – Liverpool University research found classic literature activated more of the brain than easier, modern adaptations.

Take a 60-Minute Power Nap

Just one night of poor sleep can damage your short- and long-term memory but a hour’s nap can help redress the damage, according to a study in the journal Neurobiology Of Learning And Memory. Can’t catch 40 winks at work? Go for a stroll instead. Just 30 minutes of daily walking can boost the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that processes new information and aids long-term memory, another study in Physiology And Behaviour suggests.

RECOMMENDED: How to Sleep Better

Time Your Study Right

Revising for exams or got a big pitch in the morning? Cramming or rehearsing before bed and immediately after you wake can improve retention, according to Brazilian research. The study also found those who received training in the afternoon performed better on tests than those who trained in the morning. And for a last-minute fix, research in Nature Neuroscience found a cup of coffee can boost cognitive function and memory too.

Eat More Fat

Our brains are composed of 60% fat and use 20% of the body’s metabolic energy, so keeping them well fed is essential. The brain diet: polyunsaturated fats, the omega 3 fatty acid DHA and even saturated fat. A study in the journal Neurologica found healthy fats reduced the risk of dementia by 36%. Cook with coconut oil, eat oily fish and load up on nuts – especially almonds, pecans and walnuts – and you should get enough healthy fats to keep your mind whirring happily.