“I found my daily routine became a lot more sedentary, sitting in the classroom and doing schoolwork. That can be especially bad for your energy levels in the winter,” said Horn, 23.



“To balance it out and make sure I was healthy, I decided in my first year that I was going to make an effort to be active.”

As most of us know, physical activity is an excellent way to maintain physical health. It is also an effective way to maintain mental health. Canadians have a unique opportunity to be active outdoors. Whether gardening, hiking on trails, walking the dog, or playing sports outside, we can choose from a great number of activities.

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Horn, now a policy analyst at Human Resources and Social Development Canada, works in an office Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to about 5 p.m. She completely agrees that people need to get outside.

“When you get those sunny days it’s super important to go outside and get some of that sunlight. It’s so refreshing, I find, and it can really give people the motivation to go out and be active and get exercise,” she says.

A considerable amount of evidence suggests that going outside and getting some exercise improves psychological well-being — both in the short term and the long term.

Dr. Guy Faulkner is an assistant professor in health and exercise psychology at the University of Toronto. He studies the use of exercise in assisting smokers to quit and in helping people with mental health problems. He says the commonsense assumption that being active inside or outside makes you feel good is correct.

“(For example), if someone is irritable or lacking in energy, a short bout of walking appears to improve how (the person) feels.”

Faulkner says that good mental health is made up of a number of different markers: what a person’s self-esteem is, physical symptoms of psychological well-being, such as how someone sleeps, and whether a person is depressed or what their immediate mood is like.

For whatever reason, physical activity can help improve all of these things, although it works differently in each person.

“Research has tried to identify what it is about exercise that affects a person’s mood, for example,” he says. “We can’t say with confidence that it is one specific mechanism. We do know people feel better after being physically active.”

If a person exercises intensely, his or her core temperature can rise, or their serotonin or endorphins can increase, says Faulkner. These situations can all contribute to improving a person’s mood or self-esteem.

A lighter or shorter course of exercise can also improve mood, he adds.

“With a short walk of 10 minutes, it is unlikely that a physiological mechanism is working. Instead it may be that a person is taking time out from a negative or stressful thing in their life or learning new skills that make it positive.”

He also says that research points to exercise being useful over both the short term and the long term to people who have clinical depression.

“Studies have shown that individuals [with clinical depression] who are physically active are less likely to be depressed at a later point in time, maybe five to 10 years later.”

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He points to a study done over a 12-month period where a reduction in depression continued, especially when the individuals kept up with an exercise program.

Faulkner encourages people to use exercise to help them deal with stress, manage any depression and keep their minds as well as their bodies healthy.

And he’s putting his theories into practice! Faulkner recently learned to play hockey, something he never played as a child in Australia. He has been in Canada for four years and during that time he took a skating class and then hockey lessons.

“The routine is good for me. My skates and equipment are by the door, encouraging me to get out and play,” he said. Routine is often a crucial element to getting people out the door to be active, he adds.

If exercising outdoors isn’t practical, Faulkner encourages anyone to take advantage of the opportunities inside — whether walking at the mall or at the fitness centre or playing squash as he does.

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Learn More

Be Active For Your Mind and Body - part one
This first part of a two-part article explores the concept of mental fitness, and the role physical
activity can play in enhancing our mental and physical well-being.

Be Active For Your Mind and Body - part two
Provides advice for increasing physical activity levels. Discusses the possible financial, geographical, and psychological barriers and offers suggestions and encouragement.

Mental Health Common Messages - Alberta Healthy Living Network
These mental health common messages are intended for use by practitioners in the areas of health promotion and chronic disease prevention. As the information provided refers to the general population, the messages may need to be tailored to the specific individual.

Mind guide to physical activity
The mind guide to physical activity explains how physical activity can change how you feel and offers ways to help you start getting active.