Physical activity resources and services

Getting active and moving more

Being physically active means sitting down less and moving our bodies more. Many people find that physical activity helps them maintain positive mental health, either on its own, or in combination with other treatments. Studies show that regular physical activity can help people to recover from depression, lifting their mood, reducing anxiety, improving self-esteem and concentration

This doesn’t have to mean running marathons or training every day at the gym. There are lots of different things you can do to be a bit more active. Even standing more frequently throughout your day will have an impact as we use 100 muscles just to stand.

There are a wide range of organisations, not just gym or leisure centre based, which are open to the general public and can help you to move more day to day. We have listed some of these below. For more information about the benefits of moving more please watch this webinar or consider some of our Courses and Groups for support.

Active Bucks

Active Bucks has been developed to help get more Bucks residents regularly active – particularly targeting those who do little or no activity at all.

By visiting Bucks Council – Active Bucks residents can search through a wide range of activities across Bucks, including traditional sports and dance, as well as more innovative activities such as Bush Craft and Dog Agility. Many of the activities are free or low-cost, and users can filter by distance, day/time and activity type. Visitors to the website can also register to download an activity voucher that allows them a free first session!

Breathe Outside

This spring, Breathe Outside are offering a ‘Movement for Mental Health’ pilot programme in targeted areas in the South Bucks area, including Iver Heath and Wexham & Fulmer. This pilot is fully funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, and is therefore free of charge to participants who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition and that meet the inclusion criteria. For more details please visit the website, where a flyer and a referral form can be downloaded. https://breatheoutside.co.uk/community-programmes

Bucks Mind

Buckinghamshire Mind provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, such as depression and anxiety. They are helping to build confidence and improve people’s activity levels by supporting them to find what they enjoy and build upon this. To find out more visit – About physical activity – Mind

Foundations App

Moving more can help boost your mental health. You’ll likely feel happier, think more clearly and build resilience.

The Foundations App can help you to build strong Foundations in the management of your mental health. It includes CBT techniques and tools for a variety of difficulties including low mood, low self-esteem and sleep in addition to mindfulness and meditation components.

The App also has a focus on helping you to Move More and Feel Better. You should be offered this App when you start any of our treatment interventions; please discuss with your Clinician or watch this webinar.

Leap

Aim to improve the lives of residents across Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes through physical activity and sport.

https://www.leapwithus.org.uk/

More Information

Be Healthy Bucks

Be Healthy Bucks offers online and phone support to help you to find the right service for you to help you get more active.

The service can also support you to make other healthy lifestyle changes like losing weight and stopping smoking.

Visit bhb.maximusuk.co.uk to find out more

NHS

Take a look at some ideas to increase exercise:

Free fitness ideas

Take your pick from 24 instructor-led videos across our aerobics exercise, strength and resistance, and pilates and yoga categories.

These workouts have been created by fitness experts InstructorLive and range from 10 to 45 minutes.

Fitness Studio exercise videos – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Simply Walk

Walking is a fantastic way to get out and about, meet new people, improve your health and wellbeing and help the environment.

The Simply Walk programme provides over 80 FREE led walks across Bucks of different duration/difficulty. Visit https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-transport/cycling-and-walking/simply-walk/ for more information.

Sport in Mind

Sport in Mind are the UK’s leading mental health sports charity and deliver physical activity (sport, walking, dance and movement, gardening and exercise sessions) projects in partnership with the amazing NHS in order to aid recovery, promote mental wellbeing, improve physical health, combat social isolation and empower people to move their lives forward in a positive direction.

If you’ve not taken part in sport or exercised for a while we know it can be quite daunting to join a sports group, the truth is getting involved with Sport in Mind isn’t about how good you are at sport or how fit you are, it’s simply about HAVING FUN and giving people a bit of a break from everything else that’s going on in their lives. More information can be found on their website.

Physical activity and mental health

At NHS Buckinghamshire Talking Therapies we have a strong belief, supported by research, that increasing your daily movement can have a huge number of benefits, not just physically but mentally too.

At present we have 3 main interventions for patients to consider, with the plan on developing these and expanding further in the future:

App: Move more, feel better

This programme in Foundations can help your patients plan their activity, work around obstacles, check in regularly and keep them motivated. Often, the hardest part is getting started and this app can make it easier for people to do that, and to keep on doing it. This is a FREE app, where it can help prompt and support you through creating more physically active habits in your routine.

Workshop: Moving forward with a long term health conditions

People with long-term conditions are often fearful of worsening their condition or experiencing potentially undesired consequences from physical activity. However, we now know the benefits out weigh the risks.

Within this course we work through a number of tools and techniques to help support patients to plan and implement more movement into their days to help alleviate and manage their long term condition. These workshops are not restricted to any particular condition.

They are provided in three 2 hour sessions over three months, which can be done as an ADJUNCT to treatment as usual at NHS Buckinghamshire Talking Therapies. This course is a separate group from our LTC lifestyle management group.

Course: Move your Mood

Move your Mood is a 10 week Step 3 depression course which has protected time for physical activity incorporated into every session. The aim is to share with our patients the many benefits of moving our bodies to aid our mental wellbeing whilst providing evidence based treatment. In it you will learn:

Learn CBT strategies and techniques to manage and overcome low mood
Learn about the link between low mood and physical activity
Have 30 minutes protected time for movement and physical activity as part of the group

Testimonial from a group member:
“I enjoyed the group thoroughly and found the social interaction good. It was really good to see and hear from others going through similar things to me as well as seeing everyone getting involved with the physical side of things. It made me adjust my thinking process around ‘smiley fitness instructors’ e.g. Joe Wicks. I looked forward to attending the group and the facilitators were excellent. I’ve made a friend out of the group as well which I’m pleased about. I found it all brand new but really interesting, the content was thought provoking and got me thinking in different ways, particularly about my Rules for Living.”

If you would like to find out more about Physical Activity & Your Mental Health, you can watch this 15-minute pre-recorded webinar (40MB). This will provide an overview of the benefits of physical activity for your mental health, the projects currently running within NHS Buckinghamshire Talking Therapies to support you to increase your physical activity, and what other support is available in Buckinghamshire.

We Are Undefeatable

The We Are Undefeatable campaign is a national movement involving 16 of the UK’s leading health and social care charities that encourages and supports people with long term health conditions to be active in a way that works for them.

Living with a health condition can make getting active challenging when how you feel can change day-to-day. But whether you’re working in a stretching routine to your day or getting up from your chair during the ad breaks, a little can go a long way.

Find small ways to move more on the @undefeatable website or on their YouTube Channel.

Make Your Move

This series of physical activity videos – #MakeYourMove – is aimed at people living with long term health conditions, who may experience symptoms including pain, fatigue, stiffness and low moods. The purpose of the videos is to motivate and support people to be active in a way that works for them using simple and varied activities that are designed to improve strength, balance, coordination, energy and stamina and relieve stress. Why? Because physical activity has been proven to help manage many symptoms including pain and tiredness, as well as improve overall well being, mood and sleep.

The videos were developed by The Richmond Group of Charities’ Movement for All programme, and the charity partnership behind We Are Undefeatable, working with experienced instructors Anne, Alex, Sandra and Michelle.

BetterPoints Bucks social media

BetterPoints Bucks is a new app that rewards you when you make healthy lifestyle changes. You earn points for being active and making other positive changes such as giving up smoking or getting support to lose weight. Points earned can be redeemed with local shops and businesses or donated to a choice of charities.

There are three simple steps to earn the rewards: