13 to 19 May 2024
Movement: moving more for your mental health
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‘Movement: Moving more for our mental health’ is the theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2024
Since 2001, the Mental Health Foundation has been leading Mental Health Awareness Week - bringing together the UK to focus on getting good mental health. Each May, millions of people from every part of society take part. They include people in schools and further education; private, public and charity sectors; families and individuals.
Your donations help us continue to create this moment where we can all come together to build a society with good mental health where everyone can thrive.
Find your moments for movement
Moving more is good for our mental health, so what's stopping us?
Regular physical activity is known to improve mental health, quality of life, and wellbeing. It also helps prevent and treat heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and breast and colon cancer, and more. Despite these benefits being well established, over a third of UK adults do not meet the recommended amount of activity.
In our new report, we explore what’s stopping the UK population from being more active, and what could help get people moving more for their mental health.
Why movement?
One of the most important things we can do to help protect our mental health is regular movement.
Our bodies and our minds are connected, so looking after ourselves physically also helps us prevent problems with our mental health. Exercise releases “feel good” hormones, that reduce feelings of stress and anger. It also helps us feel better about our bodies. It can improve our sleep too. If it involves other people, like being part of a team, a class or group we see regularly, that can also boost our mental health.
Despite these benefits, so many of us struggle to move enough. We know there are many different reasons for this, so this Mental Health Awareness Week we want to help people to find moments for movement in their daily routines.
Our Mental Health Awareness Week campaign is not an 'exercise' campaign. Please always consult a healthcare or fitness professional if embarking on a new fitness regime.
While moving our bodies regularly is important for our mental health, we know that for people with experience of eating disorders or exercise addiction, this message might be triggering. Our goal with the campaign is to help people find moments for movement to support good mental health and emotional calm. If you are worried that you or someone you care about is exercising excessively or causing harm, please visit BEAT for further information and support.
Get involved in Mental Health Awareness Week 2024
Don’t forget to share your #MomentsForMovement with us on social media during the week! Here are more ways to get involved:
Download resources
Download our logo, posters and social media assets to help us spread awareness.
Wear It Green Day
Organise a Wear It Green Day at your school, organisation or with family and friends.
Mental Health Awareness Week in schools
Find out about all the ways for schools to take part in the week.
Stories about movement and mental health
It's important to find the movement that’s right for you. These people share their experiences of the impact of moving on their mental health.
Moving for your mental health with a long-term health condition
Support Mental Health Awareness Week
Your support helps us run Mental Health Awareness Week every year, helping more people to live with good mental health.
Make a donation
Donate to help us develop better ways to support good mental health in every community.
Order a green ribbon
Wear your green ribbon pin to show your support for good mental health for all.
Strava challenge
Join our Around the World challenge in our Strava running club this May.
About Mental Health Awareness Week
