Research proves that people who exercise regularly are mentally and emotionally healthier and have a reduced risk of mental health challenges. Exercise reduces stress, helps alleviate depression and anxiety, and sometimes is just as effective as medication – with the added benefit of improved physical health. Meet triathlete Loreen Pindera as we continue our series about exercise and mental health.

 

I am an unapologetic crusader for active living — a true believer that a walk in the woods, unwired and uninterrupted by phone calls or other distractions, is the cure for nearly anything that ails you. I wasn’t always this way. In my 30s and 40s, I prided myself on being the consummate multitasker: a single mother, a journalist, a caregiver, a do-it-yourselfer who could handle any demand thrown at me. I was the big sister that my siblings came to when they needed help, the neighbour who could be counted on to organize a protest for safer crosswalks, the parent always ready to bake cookies for a school fundraiser.

Mostly, I pulled it off. Then came a day in early 2007 when I locked myself in a toilet stall at work and found myself staring at a poster mounted on the stall door by my workplace Employee Assistance Program (EAP) — a poster I had seen 100 times before. “Do you hide in here to cry?” it asked. Below was the number for the local EAP hotline. I was the person the poster was meant for.

I was in the throes of a difficult menopause. I had just spent six weeks working flat-out, covering a provincial election campaign, ignoring the hot flashes that left me drenched with sweat. I’d fall asleep exhausted near midnight only to find myself wide awake, three hours later, caught up in the circular thinking that overtakes an anxious mind in the wee hours, unable to fall back to sleep until dawn. Then the alarm would sound, and it would be time to start all over again.

It was not easy for me to ask for help, to recognize the signs of burnout. What I wanted was sleeping pills. “If I could just get a decent night’s sleep,” I told my doctor, “I’ll be fine.” When he suggested instead that I take six or seven weeks of stress leave, the wave of relief that hit me was physical. I felt instantly lighter. The thought of having fewer demands on me, even for a few weeks, was liberating. When I woke up in the night, it wouldn’t matter so much, because the pressure to be out the door again in just a few hours would be gone. I would catch up on my sleep.

I did not plan my walking cure. I live next to Mount Royal, and with my days now free, I started walking on the back trails of the mountain, on paths I’d rarely explored. Sometimes I’d walk for 20 minutes, sometimes for two hours; sometimes with a friend, more often, alone. It turns out the Japanese have a term for this: shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. The simple act of spending time in the woods — listening, breathing deeply, taking in your surroundings — is so profoundly therapeutic for body and mind that Japanese doctors often prescribe it as a relief for chronic stress. Studies have shown forest bathing can improve sleep quality, mood and ability to focus. I probably knew this intuitively, because within weeks, I really was feeling better. And I made myself a promise before I went back to work: that no matter how busy work got, no matter how many other demands I had on my life, I would make time every day for that walk in the woods or some kind of physical exertion — a run, a bike ride, a swim (preferably in a lake or a river). It became non-negotiable.

That was 17 years ago. I haven’t broken that promise to myself. I still have ups and downs, and occasional bouts of insomnia where I find myself fighting off circular thinking at 3 a.m. I am fully aware of how hard it is to find time for oneself, to be active and in nature. But I am convinced that both our mental and physical health depend on it. So call me a zealot. But do try it for yourself.

Loreen Pindera is a member of AMI-Quebec’s board of directors, a retired CBC journalist, and a triathlete. She is also an advisor to the Montreal-based Head2Core Foundation, which promotes better mental health through sport.

From Share & Care Fall 2024