An explanation as to why doing hours worth of exercise is so beneficial for mental health

Hey everyone! I know it's been a few months gone now since my last post on here. This was partly because I have been keeping myself occupied with work.

However, a more larger reason was because that I have been feeling increasingly overwhelmed over the past month, and I just haven't had the energy to make any posts on here. Both to do with life in general & work related stress.

Since all of that has been sorted, I'm feeling in a much better place to be back blogging again.

As the above title states, I have also been taking time out by spending a lot of time doing hours worth of exercise each day. The main reason for this, is actually because I'll be taking on an epic challenge for 3 days (starting from the 18th & finishing on the 21st of June). Hence, I've been spending every free bit of time during the day to exercise/train as much as possible for this upcoming challenge. I also like to think that the other reason for me doing all of this exercise is positively impacting my mental health too after all the stress I've been dealing with.

*The above picture was taken from one of my training sessions on top of Colley Hill, Surrey*

Going back a few years ago, I have made some posts talking about why exercising everyday is so beneficial for maintaining good mental health. And because I too, suffer with mental health issues time & time again over the years, I have found out for myself that exercising everyday really helps me to feel better, as well as clear my mind of negative stuff. 

Although, in my case, I love nothing more than go out walking for hours on end. I enjoy taking in the surroundings of nature, buildings & views when I walk past a viewing point on a hilltop. I also enjoy doing loop routes, country routes & long pavement routes from one location to another. I just love walking so much, that I can't help but do it everyday for not only to keep myself in good shape, but to gain positive energy!

In terms of this challenge, I'll be taking on the 3 Peaks Challenge with around 20 other people, in aid of the YMCA East Surrey. It involves climbing up the 3 biggest peaks in the UK: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike & Snowden. Due to the intensity of this challenge, I had to increase the amount of hours I go out walking for. Not that I'm complaining though!

In all seriousness, going out exercising for even just an hour can make your mental health a whole lot better, as it just processes the surroundings of where you are walking, and erases everything else trapped in it. Since beginning my 3 Peaks training, I have grown a liking to walking through the countryside. And even spending just an hour walking in the countryside, being surrounding by nothing but nature & stunning views, can make your mental health feel a whole lot lighter. 

So for those who are constantly feeling on edge all of the time, and want to find a way to make that feeling disappear - Get out exercising!

 

*I began this post during the late hours of the 15/6, but actually got published during the early hours of the 16/6*  

My 2nd university open event experience (10/12/2022)

I was originally going to make this post last night, but I became too occupied with watching the England V France football game. Sadly, the Lions lost, courtesy of the French. And let's also not forget Harry Kane's missed penalty.

Anyway, yesterday's experience was almost similar compared to last Saturday's experience. Although, I got to do some different things in this experience this time around. Here's my full takeaway of my 2nd open uni open day experience from start - finish...

I arrived in Portsmouth shortly after midday to begin my 2nd university open event experience. Once I got myself checked in, I immediately looked for the building within the uni campus that I needed to go to. Fortunately, I didn't have too much of a far walk to get to the Psychology building, where the course talk will be talking place. The King Henry Building to be more specific.

When I made my way into The King Henry Building, I went looking for the room I needed to be in for the course talk. Just like at Solent, there was a presentation that was talking about how psychology plays an important role in society. Or in other words, how psychology can shape the world. I was nothing but fascinated by the amount of examples that the lecturer was telling us of the examples of work placements involved.

Unlike any other university, this one in particular, has a lot of top reasons to study here statistics. It has even been ranked one of the best for specializing in Psychology!

Once we were done with the course talk in the lecture room, there was a tour guide who was keenly waiting outside to take us round the Psychology area. As it turns out, the tour guide is currently doing his 2nd year in Psychology at this university. We first went upstairs to tour round the Psychology equipment rooms. The first one had a human head sitting on a counter wearing a EEG brainwave cap. The second room we went into had an eye traking monitor inside. We also went into a room under construction process, which will become a laboratory. The rest of the rooms downstairs were just research rooms.

The last & favourable bit of the tour was going into a huge lab room downstairs, where research projects take place. What's best about them, apparently, is where students on the course get to carry out a research project on their own! I'll admit, I like the idea of carrying out a research project. (If I ever get the chance to do one...!)

The tour/open event experience concluded after that. Like before at Solent, I was satisfied with the amount of experience I had managed to takeaway.

The 6 thinking hats

Glad to be getting back into my productive stride on my blog again! This is mainly due to the fact that I've not been too majorly occupied with other things going on in my busy life atm.

This is something which I've literally discovered a short while ago. Of course, I made sure I did enough research about it beforehand. In all fairness, all of it was relatively easy for me to understand. Hence, the reason to post it now.

 

*The attached picture of the 6 thinking hats is just one of its many ways of being defined, as it has other ways of defining it. This one happens to be my favourite*

Who is the inventor?

The inventor is psychologist Dr Edward de Bono who had invented the 6 thinking hats in 1985, and his reason for this invention was inspired by coming across structural creative thinking.

What do the 6 thinking hats mean?

The 6 thinking hats overall, are defined as a method to be able to form creative ideas. To do this, every one of the 6 hats (or people in real life) has to have a part to play in order to make planning results happen. I suppose an example of this would be 6 people in a meeting room trying to structure a working plan.

What are my views on the 6 thinking hats?

I think the 6 thinking hats initiative is a great psychological idea of getting a group of 6 people together to create one working idea, as the definitions of the 6 thinking hats will encourage those people to get into their working idea roles without having to get into a panic. With that said, I definitely agree that it's a good initiative that every team participant will get to understand their role of the 6 thinking hats beforehand by preventing panic to find one, as well as learn about one of the 6 thinking hats at the very last second.  

Research source information: https://airfocus.com/glossary/what-are-the-six-thinking-hats/

*I had actually began this post on the 17/11, but didn't get round to finishing it until today*

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Since my mindset is now in a good enough place to be working back on here again, I thought about posting some more professional content on here by talking about something which I have learned at college last year. (The title says it all)

Who is the creator?

Abraham Maslow is an American Psychologist whom is famously known for his self-created theory of Hierarchy of Needs. 

What does the Hierarchy of Needs theory mean and why?

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a triangle which consists of 5 individual needs. The bottom being the most essential to the top being optional. It is formatted in the way that is is because the needs at the bottom half of the triangle have to be met before any of the other needs.

*The above picture shows the Hierarchy of Needs triangle containing its 5 needs*

Physiological needs: 

As what is mentioned beneath, these are the most essential needs that have to be met before all the other ones above on the triangle. This is because these are the needs which will keep you alive and breathing by managing to provide basic survival needs.

Safety needs: 

Along with the topmost set of needs, safety needs are the second range of needs which centres around prioritising things that help to maintain your safety. It is important to be able to prioritise your safety, so it keeps yourself secure when out & about doing stuff in the world. All of these mentioned factors play a vital role in preventing yourself from insecure harm.

Love & belonging: 

By the time you've met the satisfactory level of both the most vital bottom needs on the triangle, your mind can start to adapt to working on what your love & belonging is. Of course, family being the most obvious, but you could also utilise this need to think about who else you wish to fit into your relationship circle to help you feel connected with other people. 

Esteem:

Now that you've come up this far on the triangle by working on building up the most essential needs, your mind can start to concentrate on building up a reflection of how you want yourself to be. The purpose of esteem being second top is that it gives you the chance to identify your own strengths & weakness, as well as making room by using them to unlock success.

Self-actualisation:

At the summit of the triangle is where you have met every satisfaction of the 5 needs, so you can go out and be the best person you could possibly be by putting the accomplished needs to perfect use for when you get to use them in the world. Don't forget to also put this need to its best use for when you believe you could achieve absolutely anything as humanly possible. 

Conclusion:

If we are talking about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in terms of psychology here, it would be defined as prioritising the most essential needs around you to help you survive day in day out to being able to go forth and achieve the best in yourself. In a way, we could otherwise say that you must always start from the beginning to work your way upwards to getting to the top of somewhere, whatever it may be with where you are going in life. There is no skipping this whole process, as it HAS to be done by taking small steps at a time.

For anyone who is interested to learn more about what I've been discussing, click on this link: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html