Advertisement
Feeling anxious? How getting outdoors and joining Mind Hong Kong’s campaign can boost your physical and mental health
- Move It for Mental Health encourages Hong Kong residents to increase their outdoor activity in March and go 30km – any way they choose – in nature
- More than 85 per cent of those who completed last year’s post-challenge survey said it had motivated them to exercise more regularly
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
Mind Hong Kong’s annual month-long “Move It for Mental Health” campaign launches on March 1. With all the activities happening outdoors, “Movers” are in for a double whammy of health benefits.
Advertisement
Now in its sixth year, the mental health charity’s signature campaign challenges participants to cover a distance of 30km in nature, whether walking, running, hiking, or even hopping if the fancy takes you.
Derek Ng, a personal trainer at Joint Dynamics and a Mind HK ambassador, knows first-hand the value of exercise for mental health. Aged 13, he left Hong Kong, where he had been born and grown up, to go to boarding school in the United States, where he struggled with the culture shock that spiralled into anxiety and depression.
“I went to three high schools, it was a rocky time. Sport was my only constant – it’s a simple black-and-white thing, it’s my safe, happy place,” said Ng.
As a student, he played squash, which brought him in contact with a community of international students who also played, giving him immediate friends and a structure. At college, his squash friends bonded and became like family.
Advertisement
Advertisement