Mental Health Awareness Week is back for 2024, taking place from the 13th to the 19th of May, with the theme this year being “Movement: Moving more for our mental health”. The idea is to encourage everyone to find a way to move for both their body and mind, in a way that suits them, to benefit their mental health.

Featured as one of our four Wellbeing Pillars, along with Financial Wellbeing, Social Wellbeing and Mental Wellbeing, Physical Wellbeing focuses on looking after your physical health and is key to supporting your overall health and wellbeing, including your mental health. Physical wellbeing is related not only to staying active but also encompasses sleep and nutrition.
Exercising is great for both our body and minds with research from Mental Health UK showing that 56% of people find that exercising regularly helped them to alleviate stress and prevent burnout. Studies show that movement and physical activity helps our mental health by:

• Managing stress
• Improving our mood
• Improving sleep
• Improving self-esteem
• Encourages us to set and achieve goals
• Meet new people and spend time with others.

However, there can be barriers to movement and so this year’s theme of ‘movement’ is all about moving your way. It could be something as simple as getting off the bus, train or tram a stop early, moving during a 1 to 1 meeting, or having a little dance while you wait for the kettle to boil. Mental Health UK have also created a helpful list of ways to overcome some of the barriers to physical activity here.

If you’d like more information on how your workplace can get involved in Mental Health Awareness Week, Mental Health Foundation UK have some great posters and resources you can download, information on ‘Wear it Green Day’ for fundraising for the Foundation and a virtual Around the World challenge on Strava.

With May signalling (usually!) warmer weather, you might want to get outdoors a little more to move. Below are some links to local Greater Manchester walking routes, as well as some national information pages to help you plot a route near you.

Greater Manchester

Walking routes and trails in Manchester | Visit Manchester

National

Find a walking route - Ramblers

Find a walk near you | The Wildlife Trusts

Find your perfect trail, and discover the land of myths and legend - National Trails

Emma Connolly has joined the GM Business Growth Hub as a Wellbeing Specialist. Her role as Wellbeing Specialist is to engage, support and guide businesses to improve wellbeing for both the workforce and leaders, ensuring they have the tools required to implement or improve upon their current wellbeing strategy.

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #MomentsForMovement

You can find more information on our Wellbeing service and on our upcoming Wellbeing Workshops with Emma, here:

Wellbeing | GM Business Growth Hub