Exercise and physical activity are great for both your physical and mental health. It doesn’t really matter what you do, either, any kind of activity will do the trick. You don’t have to hit the gym, or go for a long run to feel the mental health benefits. Instead, you can do something a bit gentler. Any sort of activity will do. That’s why we’ve come up with five gentle home exercises that are sure to help you with your mental health.
It’s amazing what will help. Some things you won’t really think will count as exercise at all, but it all does. Whether you’re going for a walk around the block at lunchtime, taking up cycling, doing some household chores, tidying the garden or giving Yoga a try, it’ll all give you a mental boost.
Experts recommend adults get half an hour of moderate-intensity exercise, five times a week. So, if you do each of these five days a week for 30 minutes, you’ll have reached this target! Keep reading to discover how and why these five gentle home exercises will help improve your mental health.
5 Gentle Home Exercises to help your mental Well-Being
There are loads of ways you can get more active at home without really knowing it. You don’t have to get really sweaty at the gym, or start pounding the pavement for mile after mile on painful, long runs to feel the mental health benefits of exercise. No, there’s loads you can do in and around your own home that won’t wear you out too much, but will still help you feel the mental health benefits.
Go for a Walk
Walking is surely the cheapest, easiest and simplest exercise you can do. While it’s not strictly ‘at home’ we recommend you start your walk at home and end there, so it sort of counts, right? You don’t need any special equipment, just put on a pair of shoes and you’re ready to go! It doesn’t matter if you’re walking round the block during your lunch break, or getting a longer walk in at the weekend, it all counts! The fresh air and change of scenery can do wonders for your sense of well-being and mental health.
Try Cycling
Most of us will have had bikes when we were kids and enjoyed riding round the park, or using it as our primary mode of transport to see our friends. Since we’ve grown up, however, many of us will have foregone two wheels and pedals for a car. But, instead of using the car for those short trips, why not use a bike instead? Once again, you get plenty of fresh air and cycling is really good exercise as well. It’s also low-impact, meaning you’re less likely to injure yourself. Regular trips out on the bike will give your mental health and well-being a fantastic boost. These don’t have to be long rides and you don’t have to try and beat your time on every ride, just getting active is its own reward.
Clean the House
We know this doesn’t sound like much fun, or like exercise, really. But, stop and think about it and you really get quite a good workout from doing the household chores. All that squatting down and standing up again, carting a vacuum around and shoving a mop around the floor. It covers just about all the muscle groups. We all dread doing it, but it needs to be done, so why not put a positive spin on it? Not only do you get a bit of a workout, but you also get the satisfaction of a job well done at the end of it, as well as a richly-deserved cuppa, or perhaps something stronger!
Take up Gardening
We realise not everyone has a garden, or even a window box. But, if you are lucky enough to have a bit of land to call your own, then tending to it is a great gentle exercise that will also help boost your mental well-being. Lugging plant pots and bags of soil around is a great workout, while squatting down to plant (or to harvest) is good exercise too.
Meanwhile, something as simple as mowing the lawn is a great way to get more active. It will up your step count and get you out into the fresh air, as well. Gardening also means you get outside regularly, benefitting from some fresh air and meaning you get a change of scenery from where you work. It gives you something else to think about other than the stresses of work or family life. Lastly, when your flowers come into bloom or your fruit and veg ripens, you have something to show for all your hard work. If that’s not mood-boosting, we don’t know what is!
Give Yoga a try
Finally, why not give Yoga a go? It’s something you can try at home easily. We host classes on our social media pages regularly, as well as our YouTube page, while you can also enjoy classes as part of your Everyone Active membership, with the Everyone on Demand suite of fitness apps. You need little to no equipment – just a mat and some comfy clothes. Yoga is great exercise, it gives you a full-body workout without putting your body under too much stress, while helping improve flexibility and range of movement too. As well as this, it will help improve your breathing and your control, while it’s also well-known for helping to improve your mental health and well-being too.