Why we walk/run for mental health?
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and many mental health agencies, including the one I lead, will be hosting walks and runs as a way to create community and raise much needed awareness and funds.
The Healing Hearts Walk/Run, as ours is called, is one of my favorite parts of my job. It’s an opportunity to encourage people to stand in solidarity with our suicide prevention mission, it’s a moment for reflection in remembrance of all the lives lost, and at it’s core the event is a reminder that we are not alone.
I love the stigma reduction power of such a public event and what it communicates to participants, passersby, or those seeing the shirts out there months later. It says that we can talk about mental health, loss, and suicide prevention. Even though the event is virtual this year for a second time, there is still something about knowing that there is a whole community of people participating to support a cause that has historically been in the shadows.
With so many reports on how the pandemic has taken a toll on our collective mental health, an aspect of the walk/run that I have been focused on this year is how movement itself can be a part of maintaining one’s mental wellness. An article in the Harvard Health Blog states that regular exercise can reduce anxiety by making the brain’s fight or flight system less effective. “When anxious people are exposed to physiological changes they fear, such as a rapid heartbeat, through regular aerobic exercise, they can develop a tolerance for such symptoms.”
Additionally, a meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2018 looked at 49 existing studies and found that “Available evidence supports the notion that physical activity can confer protection against the emergence of depression regardless of age and geographical region.”
Another reason the walk/run speaks to me so deeply, is my own personal experience with movement as an important component of regaining my mental wellness during a time in my life when my depression, anxiety, and grief were so overwhelming that I couldn’t see beyond them.
Running wasn’t a regular part of my life until after college, living in San Francisco and trying to be an ”adult” through working too much at a nonprofit while sharing a house with too many people. I was also living with a depression and anxiety that felt unique — brought on by a combination of the existential dread of that life stage and the sudden terminal illness of a very close relative who died in a matter of months from that first “real” run.
At the time, I started running because I imagined running away from all that was overwhelming me. I would blast the music and try to push myself until I couldn’t think anymore. But in time, walking and running became a way to be present. Moving gave me a way to make space for all those feelings that I didn’t know how to make room for in my daily life. Something about the physical act of moving forward one step at a time was a symbolic commitment to myself every day. It was a tangible way that I could do something to honor my emotional pain and also reduce its hold on me.
Now, almost 15 years later, as a mental health professional and someone who continues to live with an anxiety disorder, I use movement in conjunction with group support and medication, to maintain my wellness. Today, my walking might not hold the same urgency it did back then but it does hold a lot more hope, a hope that comes with experiencing and witnessing recovery.
This May, to honor Mental Health Awareness Month, I urge you to use stories of hope and recovery alongside statistics about how many people are impacted by mental health challenges during this most difficult time. These stories are an important way to remind ourselves and our communities that recovery is possible and are one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce the stigma felt every day by those living with mental health challenges.
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Narges Zohoury Dillon, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, and the Executive Director of Crisis Support Services of Alameda County. If you or a loved one needs support regarding a potential mental health crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273–8255. You can participate in our walk/run virtually.
