National Fitness Day 2024 will take place on Wednesday 18th September and is a chance to highlight the role physical activity plays across the UK, helping raise awareness of how our fitness levels assist us in leading healthier lifestyles through being physical active. For more details click here.

Physical exercise can help to build your self-esteem as well as reduce anxiety and improve your mood. When you exercise, your brains release endorphins which help to make us feel energised, happier, and less stressed. This could be as simple as a walk, dancing around the kitchen or even some gardening.

Our physical and mental health are undeniably linked, so it’s important to stay active.

To stay healthy, adults should try to be active every day and aim to achieve at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week or 10,000 steps per day through a variety of activities. If you would like to improve your fitness level, then you may need to increase this amount and also include some stretching and strengthening exercises into your routine. For any type of activity to benefit your health, you need to be moving quick enough to raise your heart rate, breathe faster and feel warmer.

If you are concerned about your health in any way always consult your doctor before starting exercise.

You don’t need to be at the gym seven days a week to improve your mood

Here are some ideas to help you incorporate workouts into your daily life:

• Don’t do it alone - If you’re committed to doing exercise with a friend, you’re less likely to back out. Try an exercise class, dance or yoga with a friend. This has the added benefit of keeping connected with people. Maybe spend some time learning a new form of exercise, like Pilates or belly dancing.
  
  
• Enjoy it - Most importantly, you need to discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness. If the exercise you choose is enjoyable you are more likely to stick with it. This could be an HIIT class or Pilates, cycling around the local area, a walk in the countryside or gardening in the back garden. There are so many different ways of exercising you just need to find the one that works for the time you have and that you enjoy.
  
  
• Go outdoors - Fresh air, natural light and exercise combined are great for our mental health. Whatever the weather it’s great to get outside, it may be for a quick stroll around the block or a longer walk with the dog. You could also invite a friend for a catch up.
  
  
• Set yourself a challenge - Give yourself a goal to work towards, start small and get bigger as you get more confident and fitter. This could just be to go for a walk every day and could then evolve to walk 10 miles a week or 1,000 miles a year. You could even try the NHS couch to 5k challenge, for more details click here.
  
  
• Log it - In order to monitor your progress, keep a record of your workouts. This could include the time and distance of your walk, run, ride or workout, but you may also want to include how you feel, in order to track your mood.

It’s common knowledge that a good night’s sleep makes us feel better.

An average of 8 hours will replenish all of our energy stores. What’s more, this downtime helps protects us from infection, providing a shield for our immune system.

If you are struggling to sleep, read our guide here.

Taking care of your mental health is as important as taking care of your physical health. So, it’s important to take care of your mind as well as your body.

Click here to read our mental health awareness guide.

As well as looking after physical and mental health it’s also important to look after your financial wellbeing.

Worrying about money can be extremely stressful and may lead to poor mental health, relationships problems, people to lose homes and families to break down. People from all walks of life can end up in debt for many different reasons, divorce, redundancy, ill health, bereavement. It’s not always easy to talk about money worries but if you’re struggling financially, it’s important to take action.

Police Mutual are here to help. We want to break down the stigma surrounding debt and get people talking about money.

We’ve teamed up with PayPlan*, one of the UK’s leading free debt advice providers, who offer free and confidential advice to anyone in serious financial difficulties.

They’re able to advise you on a range of debt solutions suited to your individual circumstances, helping to protect you and your family with a sustainable way to manage your debt.

Get free and confidential help to combat your debt, call PayPlan* on 0800 197 8433.


*PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263.