Being active for your mental wellbeing

Being active is great for your physical health and fitness, but it can also help your mental wellbeing.

Benefits of being active

Being active makes the brain release hormones that boost energy and improve mood. These hormones are often called ‘feel-good hormones’.

Being active can also:

• improve your self-esteem and confidence
• reduce stress and anxiety
• reduce loneliness, if you do activities with other people
• help you to feel calmer
• help you feel more focused and motivated

More about the benefits of being active

How to be more active

If you want to be more active, think about all kinds of physical activity of all kinds, rather than just exercises. For example, you don’t need to go to the gym or attend a formal class if that doesn’t appeal to you. Being active can just involve moving more in your daily routine.

To be more active, you could:

• break up periods of sitting with some stretching, or walk up and down the stairs a couple of times
• do some gardening – check if there’s a community garden in your area, work on indoor plants, or set up a balcony garden if you have limited outdoor space
• follow YouTube videos for guidance on building strength and movement
• catch up with friends in an active way – you could walk or cycle to your favourite coffee shop
• walk to the shops or park a little further away from where you want to travel to

If you’d prefer to start doing a specific activity regularly, you could try a few until you find one that you enjoy. If it makes you happy, you’re more likely to keep it up in your daily routine.

More about keeping active

Find ways to keep active in your area

You can use Scotland’s Service Directory to find details of health and wellbeing services in your area. This includes details of different groups that can help you be more active.

Other ways to support your mental wellbeing

If you’re less able to get out and about, there are other ways to support your mental wellbeing. You could try:

• mindfulness
• connecting with other people – through a club or by meeting friends and family
• learning about new things, or building your knowledge of something you’re already interested in

You can also use Mind to Mind to find out more about ways to improve your mental wellbeing. This has advice on what others have found helpful when dealing with stress, anxiety, low mood, sleeping problems or grief.