Mental Heath Awareness Week 2024

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week again. We look forward to this week every May since we first launched the campaign in 2001. Over the years it has grown to be a prominent fixture in the calendar of not just the mental health sector but more widely with schools, workplaces, and organisations of all kinds getting involved. It’s a chance to get the whole of the UK focused on mental health, the things that help to protect and nurture it, and encouraging greater openness about our experiences of poor mental health.

This year we’re focusing on moving more for our mental health, but why is this our chosen theme?

We know that even the thought of starting “exercise” can be off-putting to many people and that’s why we’re focusing on movement to make you feel good. At a very basic level, physical activity means any movement of your body that uses your muscles and expends energy. One of the great things about moving more is that there are possibilities to suit almost everyone.

Benefits of movement for mental health range from improved mood, reduced anxiety, lowered inflammation and stress, improved memory and concentration, increased confidence, improved sleep and even increased social connectedness.

Often dubbed the ‘miracle cure’, movement is also one of the few proven routes to prevent poor mental health. A study of over one million Americans on the association between physical and mental health found regular movers reported 12-23% lower levels of mental health problems than sedentary participants when matched for gender, income, and other factors.

Students this week will be taking part in activities to help improve mental health. See below some resources that could help at home and some of the message we will be given to the students this week.