Earlier in the year, some of the DTW team – spurred on by director Lorna McAteer-Bingham, undertook a fitness challenge to support mental health awareness. This was also a great opportunity for a bit of friendly rivalry and competition amongst colleagues!
As a company, we’re always keen to get involved with our clients’ good causes. Many of our staff are already regular runners and fitness fanatics, so when there’s an element of competition and fitness involved the challenge is pretty much irresistible.
The Mind Challenge 3000, which took place earlier this year, was a national challenge with the goal of raising funds for local branches of Mind, one of which – Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind – is a client of DTW’s. The challenge was simple – carry out 100 reps of any exercise each over a period of 30 days – hence the 3000.
Having donned our fitness gear and trainers, a healthy competitive streak soon developed amongst team members taking part. Any opportunity to log some extra squats and lunges was taken and trips up the stairs to the edit suite had never been so popular in the effort to log more reps per day. At home, those with pets were suddenly more keen to take the dog for an extra evening walk and partners and spouses were roped in to join the competition.
By the end of the 30 days, we had raised £50 for our local Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind branch, not to mention toned up a few body parts as an added benefit.
More importantly, taking part in the challenge also raised awareness of the importance of exercise to mental health. Research shows that regular physical activity is associated with lower rates of depression and anxiety across all age groups and that exercise is essential for slowing age-related cognitive decline as well as for promoting well-being.
If you’re interested in finding out more, Mind have lots of resources and guides about the benefits of exercise to your mental health which we have found to be a great resource.
Other than that, we’d heartily recommend that anyone else who’s thinking about taking up exercise gives it a go too!
Thanks for reading, Lorna