Jog On: How Running Saved My Life

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I don’t know that I will ever become a runner but this book is an inspiring start to the year’ Nigella Lawson Parkrun may be part of answer. The free scheme, set up by Paul Sinton-Hewitt when he was at a low ebb, encourages people to run 5k every week at a local event – it’s free, it’s inclusive, and there’s no emphasis on speed or the right trainers. A 2018 Glasgow Caledonian University study of more than 8,000 people showed that 89% said that participating in parkrun has had a positive impact on their happiness and mental health.

Diets alone never worked for Constant. Then a friend suggested a weight-loss clinic that combined dieting with exercise. Constant started out by walking 30 minutes a day. After a few months he tried to run part of the way. "Of course, I ran out of gas after just a quarter-mile," he says. But he kept at it. And the snowball effect of running took over. "I found that the more I ran--the more energy I put into running--the more energy I got out of it," he says. "For the first time in my life I would walk around during the day and not feel like I was dead on my feet." Getting people to go for a walk – going outside into daylight, among other people and in sight of trees and nature – is a great first step. This may be common sense, but it’s important to say it, and say it again. You can’t, or won’t, go on to exercise if you don’t, in some way, ‘feel better’ from that very first step.” Courage, a pilot for United Airlines, had the strength to drive himself to the nearest hospital, where an emergency balloon angioplasty stabilized him before serious damage was done. But four months later he had chest pains again, then four months after that he went into surgery for a double bypass operation. At the age of 53, Courage got word from the FAA: his career as an airline pilot was over. Instead, she suggests, outcomes seem to be much better in “groups of people who have started exercising with their friends, starting running clubs or going on cycling weekends, and I think that’s because naturally these overcome more barriers. Ideally, I think we need to be able to replicate these kinds of conditions in organised and funded schemes, which could then be prescribed.”Timely and empathetic... an insightful take on what it’s like to experience, and confront one’s mental health... warm, accessible and perfect’ Grazia

Medication and talking therapies remain the default treatments for mental health issues. According to data from NHS Digital, there were 70 million antidepressant prescriptions issued in 2018, almost double the 2008 figure. Meanwhile, well over one million people are referred to NHS talking-therapy sessions a year. But running could be another way to help combat these issues. I began walking in a local nature reserve. I would walk until the panic lessened and, instead of hearing my own whiny voice in my head, I became aware of the birdsong around me. This escapism became a daily focal point and soon my walks got faster and longer. After a few weeks, walking wasn’t fast enough to keep up the momentum of movement required to quieten my mind: it made more sense to run. Vybar Cregan-Reid, author of Footnotes: How Running Makes Us Human, thinks that we still have more work to do to persuade people that exercise really is an effective way to improve our mental health. Alongside running, I have also become keen on living and eating more healthily. Using MyFitnessPal and Runkeeper apps and wearing a Fitbit has helped me to shift my focus to leading a more active life. As a result, I feel fitter than I have for years and I am almost 13kg (2st) lighter, which makes exercising easier.So that was how I found myself, on a freezing cold February morning this year, running in my local park. It was dark, miserable and pouring with rain. As I jogged, years of stiffness and pain in my muscles, I kept thinking: “Zoe, if you can do this, if you can make it through how grim and horrible it feels right now, you can make it through anything.” Six months later, and I know it to be true: I have not just made it through, I have survived. This increasing time spent online may contribute to a tendency to see the brain as an abstract entity, disconnected from the body. In his book, How to Think About Exercise, Damon Young writes that we often see “physical and mental exertion as somehow in conflict. Not because there is too little time or energy, but because existence is seemingly split in two.” He goes on: “Exercise is a chance to educate our bodies and minds at once.” Three of those people have been generous enough to share those stories here. Their testimonies offer inspiration and hope for anyone going through dark times. I’ve now discovered the author has more of a runners journal with practical guides which is probably more like the book I actually wanted so I’ll try this.

Goods that by reason of their nature, cannot be returned - (Items such as underwear, where the 'hygiene patch' has been removed, or cosmetics where the seal has been broken). But something in me, of my own accord, began to shift. It was subtle and quiet, but present: it was a vague desire to move – to put one foot in front of the other and go forwards. To get out of bed, out of the home I had shared with my former fiance, and leave the bad stuff behind me. I listened to the audiobook of this, which is narrated by the author, and really enjoyed this format. It was engaging, interesting, educational, honest and at times, quite funny. The author has been through a lot and she never sugar coated things or pretended they were easier than they were. But, it also wasn’t a sob story. She found the perfect balance between talking about challenges and hard times, and giving hope for the future. These common problems often surface early in life; roughly three children in every school classroom have a diagnosable mental health issue, according to CAMHS, the NHS’s child and adolescent mental health service. In fact, three quarters of all mental health issues are established before someone reaches 24.Truth - I actually nearly stopped reading this with a 2 chapters left because for some reason it didn't really resonate with me. Running, quite simply, has changed my life," he says. "It saved me from what can be a devastating disease. Now I have a decent, normal life." For a long time, there has been a good deal of ignorance about the voluminous catalogue of mental benefits that different kinds of exercise can provide. People are slowly becoming more aware of these benefits, as barely a week goes by without some new trial or study being published that connects certain kinds of physical activity with mental wellbeing, but there is still some way to go with persuading people that moving outdoors is something of a miracle cure for many modern ills.” And the day after that. She began to set herself achievable goals - to run 5k in under 30 minutes, to walk to work every day for a week, to attempt 10 push-ups in a row. Before she knew it, her mood was lifting for the first time in years.