In honour of Mental Health Awareness Week (May 10-16th) and its theme “Nature”, we are pleased to share some data on the impact of exercising in nature on mental health. Here’s what happened:

#moveitformentalhealth #MoveItHK #50kmNatureChallenge 

For the fourth time, Mind Hong Kong (Mind HK) ran its Move it for Mental Health (#MoveItHK) campaign to raise awareness of how exercise impacts physical and mental health. The campaign, supported by Here to Be, lululemon’s social impact program, challenged Hong Kong-ers to complete 50km in nature from February 1 to February 28 2021 – participants did so by running, walking, hiking, and cycling. Over 4000 took part and 1156 completed the 50km nature challenge and took part in our surveys. We asked the participants a few questions prior to and post-challenge and here’s what we found.

Exercising in nature made them feel better and more motivated: 

  • 86% of participants noticed a positive difference in their mental health after exercising in nature
  • 93% reported feeling more energised after exercising in nature
  • 92% felt the challenge motivated them to continue exercising more
  • 70% said exercising in nature helped them concentrate and be more productive

*These data points were collected from all participants who completed the post-campaign data, including those who did not complete 50km in nature or more (1336)

Well-being Scores Improved:

*According to the WHO 5 Well-being Index criteria, a score below 13 indicates “poor well-being” and further examination for depression is recommended. These data points were collected from 1156 people who finished the 50km challenge and completed the WHO-5 Well-being Index scale before and after the campaign.

  • Respondents’ well-being generally improved after the ‘Move it’ campaign. The average total scores of the WHO-5 Well-being Index increased by 23.07% after completing the 50km challenge.
    • The number of respondents reporting ‘feeling cheerful and in good spirits’ (Q1) and ‘feeling active and vigorous’ (Q3) for ‘most of the time’ or ‘all the time’ after completing the challenge, increased by 19.8% and 28.6% respectively.
    • Prior to the start of the challenge, 40% reported poor well-being and post completion of the 50km nature challenge, only 16% reported poor well-being. Compared with the pre-campaign responses, 24.4% fewer respondents reported scores indicating poor well-being after the challenge.
    • Females showed greater improvement in their well-being compared with males after completing the ‘Move It’ campaign. Female respondents well-being scores were observed to have increased by 25.3%, whilst the male respondents’ scores improved by 18.3%.

WHO-5 Well-being Index Data Analysis:

  • For the WHO-5 wellbeing index analysis, 1156 people who finished the 50km challenge and completed the WHO-5 Well-being Index scale before and after the campaign were included.
    • Respondents who completed less than 50km were removed from this analysis
    • Respondents with empty response to the 5 Well-being Index and duplicated respondents (identified by names and emails) were also removed.

Move it for Mental Health 2021 Campaign Video, produced by Capsule48 and featuring lululemon ambassadors Chris Tang, Athena Wong, Alexandria Cheng, and Kieran Rogers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2LAuAO4Nb8&list=PLqGxi75ykJZng8I82WwrHJhLp9LeMj3Xr

 

For more information on Move it for Mental Health, please visit: www.moveithk.com

Enquiries? Email [email protected]