Step outside this spring - The Derbyshire Benevolent Trust

With Spring drawing in and the weather starting to look more promising (most days anyway), it’s a great time to get outdoors more and embrace the nature that is on our doorsteps. When the term ‘outdoor exercise’ gets thrown around, we often cringe back thinking we’re having to pick up running or some other cardio type of exercise. For some, it is the dream to be able to jog along in the beautiful sunshine, for others it’s the biggest nightmare. There are actually many other options, some are free, and some are options you may want to consider every now and again!

There are a wide variety of physical activities that can give these health improvements, you can have a variety, mix things up depending on the day and what you feel like doing, but the most important thing is that you get outside.

Most accessible options:

Running/jogging
Cycling
Outdoor swimming (E.g. Lakes or the sea!)
Hiking or mountaineering
Walking (try picking up the pace a little to increase your heart rate)
Football/Rugby/ outdoor games with others
Tennis

Activities that might have a cost:

Outdoor adventure courses
Canoeing or Kayaking
Horse riding
Outdoor climbing

If you go out alone, you can stick your headphones in and listen to your favourite podcast, or enjoy listening to the sounds around you! It’s also a great way to get the family outside, or to start a hobby with a friend and spend time together. There’s a list longer than your arm of reasons why getting outside for exercise is so beneficial, but this will cover the key factors!

Scientific research has shown that getting around 120 minutes of exercise outdoors a week has a great improvement on mental and emotional health, as well as general well-being. Being out in nature has also proven to have a positive correlation in reducing anxiety. Currently, it is recommended to get in at least 30 minutes of exercise daily, around 150 minutes a week, with an aim for strength training twice a week for optimal health and supporting muscles and bone strength.

Indoor exercise is still a great option, whether that be home workouts, gym workouts or other recreational activities completed indoors. But, with us all being inside most of the day (especially over this last year), whether that be working at a desk all day; being in the house doing ‘life admin’ and pottering around or doing indoor exercise, it’s all inside those four walls.

The option to take time outside on a daily basis, or at least a few times a week, can make improvements mentally and overall. Our bodies react in a positive manner to being outside, especially in the sunshine. So, what could be the biggest improvements and positives of outdoor activity? Below are a few examples:

From April to September, your Vitamin D intake will increase
- In turn, this means supporting strong bones and teeth, decreasing the risk of osteoporosis
- Getting at least 15 minutes a day in sunlight is optimal
Your moods will feel lighter and improves mental health
- Especially if you’re out in green space! Taking a walk in the local woods, the park, out in the countryside etc.
- There’s a lot of positive outcomes from “Green Exercise” for adults and children, helping with self-esteem and mood, among other factors
It counts as your daily exercise
- Exploring a new place or chasing the kids around the park is a great way to get outside for a while and gets movement in
- Getting time away from screens and technology boosts your motivation to keep moving and breaks up the time we spend sedentary in the day
It can actually improve your concentration
- Being in front of a screen for long periods often decreases your ability to concentrate and focus on your work
- It is recommended to take 10-minute breaks every hour for this reason, but getting outside for at least 30 minutes every day can boost your concentration
If you have kids, it’s important for them to utilise their muscles and increase lung capacity as they grow
- Plus, an opportunity for them to explore, run free and create their own adventures
- Being in front of screens for lengthy periods in the day can have a negative effect on eyesight, concentration, self-esteem and increase the risk of becoming overweight
A great stress reliever!
- If you have a job that causes a lot of stress and giving you frown lines, getting some outdoor exercise is a great way to let off steam and allow your mind to wander away from work for a while.

There are so many activities that can be taken advantage of, and it’s always a great idea to have a look around your local area or where you can easily travel to. Make a list of what you want to do, where you want to go, and who else you could do the activities with. Set yourself goals, for example: wanting to get out for a 30-minute walk locally at least 4 times in the week, and on the weekend going to another location to go for a bike ride, maybe once a month doing a paid for activity.

You might surprise yourself in what activities you enjoy, but most importantly, remember outdoor activity doesn’t have to be gruelling and unenjoyable. Find what you enjoy and challenge yourself and others around you to try something different or push yourself further with what you enjoy. Get outside, and although with the warmer weather approaching and restrictions soon to be lifted, you might be preparing to get sun-kissed and make up for lost time in beer gardens, but think of your physical, mental and overall health as a motivational point to get some outdoor exercise in.

What are you waiting for? Go get yourself outside and enjoy the nature we have on our doorstep!

I’ve not received a password reset email?

Be sure to check spam folders, Some email providers may consider the email to be a spam email and automatically file it into your spam folder.

The email is not in my Spam folder?

Some email providers may have very strict spam blocking in place. If this is happening you can add our email address to your ‘white list’

To do this please follow the instructions in the below links, by choosing your mail provider and adding the email: “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” to your whitelist.

AOL

Add the “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” to your AOL address book:

Click the “Mail Options” menu and select “Address Book”.
Inside the “Address Book” window, click the “Add” button.
Inside the “Address Card for New Contact” window cut and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the “Other E-Mail” field.
Make our From address the “Primary E-Mail” address by checking the associated check box to the right of it.
Click the “Save” button.

If the mailing is in your SPAM Folder, you can open the email and click the “This Is Not Spam” button.

Gmail

Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Gmail Contacts List:

Click “Contacts” along the left side of any Gmail page.
Click “Create Contact”.
Copy and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the primary email address dialog box.
Click “Save”.

If the mailing is in your SPAM folder, check the box next to the mailing and click the “Not Spam” button along the top.

Hotmail/Outlook/Live

Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Hotmail Safe List:

Open your mailbox and click “Options” (upper right hand corner).
Click the “Junk E-Mail Protection” link.
Select the “Safe List” link.
Copy and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the dialog box titled “Type an address or domain”.
Click the “Add” button next to the dialog box.

If the mailing is in your “Junk E-Mail Folder”, open the email and click the “Not Junk” button.

You should also check that the mailing’s email address is not in your Blocked Senders list. You can find your Blocked Senders list by following the directions above and going to “Blocked Senders List” instead of “Safe List”. If you see the mailing’s from address on this list, select it and click the Remove button.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Thunderbird Address Book and configure your Junk Mail Controls to white list your address book.

Add an address into your Personal Address Book:

Click the “Address Book” button.
Make sure the Personal Address Book is highlighted.
Click the “New Card” button.
Under the “Contact” tab, copy and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the Email dialog box.
Click “OK”.

White list your Personal Address Book:

From the main drop down menu, select “Tools –< Junk Mail Controls..."
This will launch the Junk Mail Controls window that has two tabs: Settings and Adaptive Filter
Under the Settings tab, update the “White Lists” module by selecting Personal Address Book from the pull down menu and then check mark the box next to “Do not mark messages as junk mail”.
Click “OK”.

If the mailing is in your junk folder, right-click the mailing and choose “Mark –< As Not Junk".[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title="Netscape Mail" tab_id="1498728551530-a54d18f1-2c51"][vc_column_text]Set up a filter to redirect the mailing you want to receive into your inbox:

From the Edit drop down menu, select “Message Filters”.
Click “New”, and give the new filter a name (e.g. “Whitelist”).
Change the drop down on the left to “sender” and the one in the middle to “is”.
Copy and paste username@domain.com into the box on the right.
Make the bottom two drop downs “Move to folder” and “Inbox”.
Click “OK”.
Make sure that your new filter is located at the top of the Message Filter list so it is run before any spam filter.

Outlook 2003/2007

Add the address you want to receive mailings from to your Safe Senders list:

On the Tools menu, click “Options”.
On the Preferences tab, click “Junk E-mail”.
On the Safe Senders tab, click “Add”.
In the Add address box, copy and paste in username@domain.com and click OK.

If you are using a different version of Outlook you can add the mailers From address to your Address Book. This can be done by opening the email, right clicking the From address, and selecting “Add To Contacts”. You can also access your Address Book via the tools drop down menu.

Yahoo

Set up a filter to redirect the mailing you want to receive in your inbox:

Open your mailbox and click on “Mail Options” (upper right hand corner).
Select “Filters” under the Management column.
Click the “Add” button on the Filters page.
In the “From header:” row, make the drop down “contains” and put the mailer’s from address username@domain.com in the box.
At the bottom of the page Click the “Choose Folder” pull down menu and select “Inbox”.
Click the “Add Filter” button.

If the mailing is in your Yahoo Bulk Folder open the email and click the “Not Spam” button. You should also check that the mailing’s email address is not in your “Blocked Addresses” list. You can find your “Blocked Addresses” list by clicking “Mail Options” and then clicking the “Blocked Addresses” link under the Spam column. If you see the mailing’s from address on this list, select it and click the “Remove Block” button.

Others

The most common way to whitelist an address is to add it to your address book, white list, or safe list. There is no universal way to whitelist an address, so if this is not an option, you will have to consult the help section associated with your email application. They should have instructions on how to whitelist an address there.