"Just go for a walk..."

[LittleMissUnreasonable]

Why does this always seem to be one of the big solutions for people who are suffering from poor mental health? Maybe if I lived in Southern Spain having a nice sunny walk would be very pleasant. But the weather being so miserable and grey ends up making me feel worse. The thought of putting on waterproofs to trudge through the grey endless rain, only to end up in a condensation filled cafe that smells of damp coats just doesn't seem very appealing

We have some lovely walks around my area. I’ve joined a ladies walking group which is brilliant as we go for drinks after the walk sometimes, or coffee and cake and have a social event coming up this weekend. But I do like walking alone too and personally a walk does lift my mood. Certainly during covid it saved my sanity a few days, especially after a very busy day at work

YABU. Humans are meant to move and walking has been proven to really help mentla and physical health. It doesn't rain constantly in the UK, we have a lot of very good days for walking. Even if the weather is poor it takes all of a few minutes to put on shoes and a decent coat.

I bet if you did live in Southern Spain you would be moaning that it is too hot most of the day to walk.

I hear you. But surprisingly often it's not raining, or only a tiny bit - I used to force myself to drag the kids out and quite often it was less bad once you were out.

Maybe just commit to 5 mins and give yourself permission to stop there.

Also if you do have poor mental health, getting out there even for 5 mins is an achievement in itself. I've had a lot of days when that was beyond me.

Litter picking walks are good. Gives you something to do when you get home too as you'll probably have to fire off an email to the council about fly tipping.

Because it does help. Honestly, it does. Humans need to move (as much as they are physically able) and be in daylight.

When you walk you naturally fall into a pattern of scanning your view looking left to right and back again, this action can calm anxiety, walking at a pace also helps increase your breathing calming your vagus nerve, it gives you a reset and is beneficial so YABU.

I agree. So often on here you see ‘go for a lovely walk’ as a remedy for everything. I live in a pleasant rural area but walks locally are unexciting, often on muddy field paths or a rather dank disused railway. It’s often not uplifting.
’Go for a lovely Spa day’ ( the horror) and ‘Make a lovely hot choc’ are two more suggestions that don’t full me with joy.

It may not work for you but it is well known that getting outside is a good boost for mental health on the whole. Some days it’s a mammoth task to get out the door to do it but for most people it’s worth that effort.

Nothing will make you feel more depressed than staying indoors and not moving your body. I speak from experience.

It's not going to solve all your problems and make your depression disappear but it's an extremely good first step to make.

I would advise intense exercise which would probably also be annoying. It helps me though. The one I don't get is 'have a bubble bath.' I love baths but I don't wanna lay there thinking about how shit everything is.

It doesn't need to be interesting, the simple act of moving your body and being in the fresh air is what makes the big difference.

It's free, it helps almost everybody. It's easy to understand.

I thought the solutions were 'spa days' that seems to be the go to

Different things work for different people. However a common theme is doing something that allows you to concentrate on the body rather than the mind.

You’re made out of sugar, you won’t melt.

While I agree going for a walk isn't going to solve all your problems for me it really does ground me and help me focus more on the present. So yes, I would say it helps my mental health

I went on a spa day and ended up joining in a gym class because sitting “relaxing” just helped my brain go into overtime! At that point I needed to be doing to help distract.

for me I have to be in a half way decent state of mind mentally to benefit from a spa day

I think when our mental health is suffering, it is difficult to hear advice like go for a walk. We can get into a cycle of getting no exercise and not even going out.

However, I do think that if we change this habit and go walking that you start to feel better. It's all about breaking an unhealthy habit and creating a healthy habit. I know I certainly feel better once I start making myself go out for a walk.

I live in Ireland where it rains constantly. We just need to get some decent rain gear and warm clothes for the winter.

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCat
I may not be made out of sugar, but have you come from the 1950s with that 'stiff upper lip just get on with it' attitude. Very reductive to people struggling... I thought we'd moved on a lot with being empathetic to poor mental health but evidently not

When I feel crap the last thing I want is someone telling me to go for a walk!

But when I do go for a walk I feel ten times better. The movement and fresh air do wonders for my mental health if I'm honest, I get out every day otherwise I go into overthink mode. Even when it's storming (like this morning!) I wrapped up and did a damp walk, coming home to the warmth and a cup of tea was so rewarding after the rain too.

It might not work for you but it works for me, and when my husband was having a nervous breakdown, full on, I encouraged him out on many walks and he usually felt better afterwards and we usually found the rain wasn’t that bad when you were out.

also, now have a dog and while getting her out in the rain is a challenge, usually feel better afterwards even if only to be back in the house.

getting out is often the answer for me in a low mood.

It isn't kind to just agree that, yes walking is not going to help your mental health because sometimes it rains.

Rain will not hurt you. Many of us walk in the rain because we have no choice, we have to walk to get places.