Like many others, I started running during the first lockdown. I would reluctantly get up from my desk just before lunch, eat a quick snack and plod my way around the same 5k circuit. I did this every two days, for months.

I didn’t do it because I enjoyed running. I hate running. And I didn’t do it to keep fit, either. I did it, mostly, for my mental health.

The correlation between physical activity and improved mental health is well established. Exercise brings about chemical changes in the body associated with reducing stress and increasing happiness. And it distracts the mind from catastrophe loops, refocuses thoughts and offers a fresh perspective.

Sitting at home all day doing a stressful job made catastrophe loops and frustration common. Going for a run was enough to break the trance and reset my mind.

In our “How I” feature this week, Rahi Popat explains how his school is using exercise in a similar way: as a mental health intervention. It’s a specialist provision for pupils with social, emotional and mental health challenges, so it was already well versed in interventions to support pupils. But he felt exercise would add something extra - and so it proved: attendance increased by 5 percentage points after daily exercise was introduced.

Exercise interventions are often met with disdain from some. Memories of Brain Gym and a focus on “opportunity cost” are used to claim that “exercise breaks” are ill advised. But just because Brain Gym is discredited, it does not mean that all exercise interventions should be - if we did a similar thing with literacy interventions, we would have nothing left to teach our children to read.

Also, what is the opportunity cost of not bringing more activity into the school day? For Popat’s school, taking away the exercise would lead to fewer pupils in classrooms. For many other schools, it would result in less focus and more disruption.

That last point is interesting. A common sanction in schools is for pupils to miss all, or sections of, their breaktimes as a consequence for poor behaviour. I can see how denial of something the child enjoys could instigate a change in behaviour, but I also think the punishment risks increasing frustration and disruption. Would some form of exercise intervention be more productive?

Of course, exercise is not a save-all in terms of mental health. This issue of Tes is published during Mental Health Awareness Week, and we have seen many different approaches touted as support.

It is easy to be dismissive of some of these. For instance, I have struggled in the past to understand the advocacy of inspirational quotes. You know the type: an uplifting message written over some beautiful scenery, or a quote from a famous person or a book. But some people seem to get genuine joy and motivation from these quotes, so whether or not the evidence says this is an effective intervention, if an individual finds solace in it, then why should I - or anyone else - stop them?

Mental health challenges can come about for many reasons, but judgement can be a big part of the problem. It seems odd that we then judge those people for their choices in trying to make themselves better.

We need to be conscious of this in the coming months. The pandemic has been attritional for pupils and teachers alike and the impact will be felt for some time. Space for all in schools to reset and refresh their mindset without judgement on their methodology will be crucial if we really are to get back to “normal” - whatever that is.

For me and many others, it is running that works. If you need me, I will be dragging myself around that 5k circuit - it’s nearly midday and I am in urgent need of a reset.

@jon_severs

This article originally appeared in the 14 May 2021 issue under the headline “When it comes to improving mental health, live and let live”