Running is good for your mental health and I'm here to prove it

As a volunteer Mental Health Ambassador for England Athletics, my task is to take the idea of jogging as therapy and run with it

The new Mental Health Ambassador programme, launched on Tuesday by England Athletics and supported by the charity Mind, has recruited 128 people – of whom I am one – from 91 affiliated athletics clubs across the country, to do a bit of running and talking. This volunteer programme links to #runandtalk, a campaign to improve mental health through running in England.

As one who self-prescribed a regular jog to alleviate mid-life blues and turned into an athletics evangelist, I can run with that. The talking part shouldn’t be a problem. As a coach, I’ve found that keeping up a constant chatter as your feet patter helps you gauge your companions’ breathing (as a rule of thumb, a curt one-word answer, often accompanied by a death stare, signals a certain level of discomfort).

Related: Why I run: it's not pretty or elegant, but it's the best way to clear your head

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from Fitness | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1MF64cX
via FITNESS