Mental Health

Poor mental health is all too common. Depression has been identified as the leading contributor to years of healthy life lost due to disability (Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation), and is ranked as one of the 10 strongest contributing factors of increasing global disease burden (Abbafati, Abbas, Abbasi-Kangevari, et al. 2020). While up to 1 in 10 Scottish adults have an anxiety disorder (Mental Health Foundation, 1999).

Physical Activity

Higher levels of physical activity are strongly associated with better mental health and lower rates of depression (Peluso MAM, Guerra de Andrade LHS. 2005). Previous research has shown that increasing physical activity has the potential to improve wellbeing and mitigate various mental illness symptoms. Exercise has even been found to outperform antidepressants as a means of treatment (Babyak M, Blumenthal JA, Herman S, et al. 2000). However, 34% of the Scottish population alone are not active enough to gain these health benefits (Scottish Health Survey 2019). That’s why this project aims to allow the employees of ACS the chance to redesign their working day, in a way that will provide greater opportunities for physical activity at work.

References:

Abbafati C, Abbas KM, Abbasi-Kangevari M, Abd-Allah F, Abdelalim A, Abdollahi M, et al. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet. 2020 Oct 17;396(10258):1204–22.

Babyak M, Blumenthal JA, Herman S, Khatri P, Doraiswamy M, Moore K, et al. Exercise treatment for major depression: Maintenance of therapeutic benefit at 10 months. Psychosom Med. 2000;62(5):633–8.

Peluso MAM, Guerra de Andrade LHS. Physical activity and mental health: the association between exercise and mood. Clinics. 2005;60(1):61–70.

•Scottish Health Survey 2018. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-health-survey-2018-volume-1-main-report/ (accessed 24th Nov 2021)