Jog On: How Running Saved My Life

Product Information

But when people are at their lowest ebb, it is easy to understand why a suggestion to simply move could sound ridiculous. Lauren (not her real name), who works in primary mental healthcare, has some reservations about how exercise is recommended to patients who are suffering badly. “If we think about someone in the grips of depression or anxiety, the very nature of how they’re feeling, their negative thoughts, and the behaviour cycles they get trapped in, [can] mean that going out to a gym on their own or engaging with a group of strangers is going to feel almost impossible.” 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.”

Running has been a positive force for just about everyone who's ever laced up a pair of running shoes. It makes us more productive, easier to live with, more apt to smile and less apt to sleep till noon on Sunday. Today, Courage, who lives in Centerville, Va., runs more than 50 miles a week. He's completed more than 35 races, including a 20-miler. More important, two years after his heart surgery he was recertified as a pilot. "The FAA said if a guy can run 20 miles at a time, he can walk up stairs and get into the pilot's seat," says Courage, who now holds the rank of captain.I realised that having goals really focused my mind and gave me a huge sense of purpose. So I entered China’s Great Wall Marathon in 2016. I knew it would be really tough, both physically and mentally. The experience of training for it and running it really changed my life. I felt I was proving to myself that I could defy my depression and anxiety; on so many occasions in the past, these feelings had tried to kill me. But this race gave me a powerful perspective on every aspect of my life. I felt if I could run 26.2 miles, I could do anything – I felt so alive. This may reflect the fact that many people still see exercise as a chore. Although our perception of exercise is formed in childhood, 2017 statistics from Public Health England found that, by the final year of primary school, just 17% of children were doing the recommended amount of daily exercise. I was a severe asthmatic," says Johnson, who was 39 at the time and taking a dictionary of drugs--prednisone, theophylline, corticosteroids--to help with the breathing problem that left him feeling like a deep-sea diver running out of oxygen. "The intake of air in my lungs--my peak flow rate--was just about 50 percent that of a normal person," he says. "My whole existence centered on getting a good breath. I would be at work and have to concentrate on something, but instead I'd be thinking, 'Breathe deep, breathe deep. Get some air into your lungs.' " 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. After starting last summer, I would run with regular members and talk about my mum with those I’d come to know better. It helped me put my mind in the right place to face another day of caring for Mum before she passed away in October. A few days afterwards, I was running.

I don’t know that I will ever become a runner but this book is an inspiring start to the year’ Nigella Lawson 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. 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. One possible tactic would be for doctors to suggest exercise and offer discounted gym membership as an accompaniment to medication and therapy. The GP Andrew Schuman says that exercise is an increasingly important topic in his conversations with patients dealing with mental health issues.An insightful take on what it's like to experience, and confront one's mental health while joyfully celebrating the fact that just being an everyday runner can be enough to change your life. Warm, accessible and perfect for resetting a glum January mindset’ Alexandra Heminsley, author of Running Like a Girl