Mountains for the Mind
Trail’s new campaign to get mental health out in the open.
One in four people in Britain experience mental health problems each year, and one in six of us report them to our GP every single week. BUT it’s been scientifically proven that spending time in the great outdoors is a powerful natural anti-depressant, and regular exercise can reduce the risk of depression by 30%. That’s why in 2019 we’re launching Mountains For the Mind – a campaign to finally get mental health out in the open.
“I realIsed hIlls aren’t just a form of exercIse. they really are a form of therapy, and I needed to get back out on them.”
Six people who have never met before are chatting, laughing and fiddling with rucksack straps as they stride together up the slopes of Blencathra. Derwent Water gleams gold beneath a bank of cloud and the humps of the Lake District’s Northern Fells gather around it. At some point, each person takes a deep contended breath of the chilly mountain air, looks back over the view, and smiles. These six people are very different. They have travelled here from Bristol, Wales, Scotland and Lancashire. There are 21 years between two of them; each of their successes and difficulties are particular to them. But they have one thing in common, which has drawn them together on one of the best-loved hills in the UK. They all love the mountains. And not only that, they have all found healing, confidence or comfort in these high and wild places.
According to Mind, the mental health charity, one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. In England, one in six people report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week. Some of these problems will require a particular kind of help and treatment – ‘mental health’ is a huge term under which a whole variety of symptoms and experiences of the world are scooped. Treatment varies from person to person, but for this six, walking in the hills has been an important part of their recovery and continues to be essential to their wellbeing.
Nick Livesey has experienced anxiety and depression for most of his life, but found such solace and vitality in the hills that he moved to Snowdonia permanently. Now, he looks out on their contours every day, has uncovered quiet and unfrequented tops, and captures his sense of their beauty and mystique in his mountain photography. Today he’s speaking with a kind of gentle, happy contentment. A small smile rests on his face as he trudges uphill – sometimes falling into conversation with others, sometimes content with his own company and that of the hill. A haze of cloud sits over the hills to the south and he pauses for a moment to look back and absorb the cascading view.
“On a very simple level the hills offer healing due to their beauty,” says Nick. “And in terms of managing anxiety, that’s a balm for you, it really is.” Though he lives in Wales now, Nick’s first trip to the mountains was just over 20km south of here. “Me and a couple of friends went to Great Langdale,” he remembers. “We were coming through Chapel Stile and we saw Harrison Stickle towering above us and it was terrifying. I was very afraid of heights and I didn’t know what to expect.” After reading books about mountains for nearly two years, he had finally taken the plunge, to experience their particular blend of challenge and beauty for himself, first hand. That trip would change his life. “Once I got home I was really excited, ecstatic in fact, because I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for,” he says.
“I had to have it. It was like some kind of magic elixir which was essential to my mental wellbeing. I ended up joining a local mountaineering club so I could go out one weekend a month, which was really important to me.”
Having a certain amount of time outside, climbing hills, breathing the sharp air and absorbing an awe-inspiring view became a critical part of Andrea Powell’s recovery too. She speaks with a quick smile, and her love of wild places flashes into her eyes as she glimpses for the first time the uninhabited expanse of the fells north of Blencathra.
“Actually, it was the hills that were keeping me sane at one point,” she says, and when she was signed off work with stress she turned to the same hills to recover. “It was a light bulb moment,” she explains. “I realised that these hills aren’t just a form of exercise, they really are a form of therapy and I needed to get back out on them.” Andrea started by volunteering for a charity in the Cairngorms before going back out on walks with friends and her partner, doing the thing which brought her the most joy. “You get out of the car, put your boots on and it feels like you’ve got this amazing day ahead,” she grins. “You’re not quite sure what it’s going to hold but it’s exciting and there’s an amazing feeling of getting to the top, whether you get a view or not. You’ve put your body through some kind of effort and no-one else has done that for you, it’s just you. The satisfaction of feeling your muscles ache when you get back down and the chatter in the pubs afterwards… it just brings lots of joy and happiness.”
Her description of why she loves the hills touches on many things which can help in times of distress: time in nature, exercise, and quality time with loved ones. Endorphins and serotonin – hormones which make you feel good – are released during or after exercise and, according to Mind, can calm anxiety and help you to feel happier. For David Brice, getting out and being physically active in the hills has become crucial to managing his depression. “The physical side of it was huge for my health,” he says, “I still suffer with depression; I’m coming out the back of a depression now. But a lot of the problems I had with mental health were a lack of endorphins, which is why I was on anti-depressants.” Despite still living with depression, he’s no longer on medication and following a period of addiction to alcohol and sugar, where he went from dangerously underweight to overweight, is now much more healthy.
“I use it as my strength,” he says, “I’m able to encourage people to be more open. My outlook is one of positivity. If I can feed that back into other people with the work I do, then that’s what I feel like I have an obligation to do.” Now he works in outreach, helping those who suffer, like he did, with addiction.
Connecting with others is another essential way to maintain wellbeing, for some loneliness can be a contributing factor to negative mental health. It can be
great to stomp off into the hills alone and cast whatever anger, grief or loneliness you experience down among the rocks. But it can also be incredibly helpful to share that with a friend or family member who can listen, patiently and without judgement. “I’ve come from the darkest depths of a horrible world,” says Andy Cole, who has experienced periods of depression and had thoughts of suicide. “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. And I know more people suffer, but we don’t talk about the stuff.”
Georgina Jackson, who received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder several years ago, also found that it affected her ability to connect with the people she cared about. “I completely shut down and didn’t want to speak to or see anyone,” she admits.
For Ruth Hugill, the combination of spending time with her daughter and partner, in the hills that she loves, helped her deal with the negative feelings associated with a diagnosis of breast cancer. “You know, I was fighting this awful disease and I knew that I had to get strong and fit and healthy and it gave me great exercise,” she says. “But also, when you’re walking up a hill, you’ve got to keep going. It was like a reflection of what I was going through in my life.”
Going out on the hills with a trusted friend might be just the thing to break that perpetuating cycle. And if you are the friend who offers a gloved hand, saying, ‘Hey, the weather looks good this weekend, how about we try for that hill?’, you could be offering someone more than just a fun trip. It could also be a lifeline.
Cloud sits low over the southern fells, obscuring all but the nearest peaks. The summit of Blencathra, however, is clear. At the top, the six huddle around the broken trig point, smiling, laughing and breaking off chunks of chocolate. Bars of sunlight break through the cloud, illuminating the patchwork of fields below. The hills of the Lake District fill the horizon.
“When you’re in the middle of it, you don’t realise how much it’s hitting you emotionally,” says Ruth. “But when I look back, I think, ‘my goodness, I’ve been through this but others are going through it now’, and I just want to get it out there. The power that the walking can do to your health, it’s absolutely fantastic.”