Head outdoors: how to boost your mood - The Derbyshire Benevolent Trust

Exercise is a tried and tested way of increasing your brain’s level of serotonin, the happy hormone. But as the nights draw in and the weather gets colder, it can be difficult to find the motivation to exercise. This can result in having lower levels of energy which can then lead to low moods. Experiencing low moods is normal, and it is something that nearly everyone will experience at least once throughout their lives. However, if you are suffering with prolonged low moods, your first step should be to reach out to your registered GP for advice.

Not everyone finds the bright lights and loud music of gyms an enjoyable experience, or it may even be that a gym is currently inaccessible to you. The thought of sweatbands, shorts and aerobic exercise may make you shudder. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore exercise!

A better way to boost your mood, and your overall health, is to head outdoors.

The mental health charity Mind says that exercising outside is a great way to improve your mental wellbeing. This is because combining exercise with spending time alongside nature is proven to help lift low moods and anxious feelings. Does this mean dragging a cross-trainer onto your back lawn or doing a Zumba class in the local woods? Absolutely not!

Here are three ways you can combine exercise with the great outdoors:

Walks in the countryside

We are blessed to have some incredible places to explore in Derbyshire. From the grounds of spectacular historic houses like Chatsworth, Calke and Hardwick, to the vast terrain of the Peak District – Derbyshire is packed full of places to walk and get some much needed fresh air. However, we know that accessing these places to get enough regular exercise isn’t always easy. Instead, why don’t you check out the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and their list of local reserves to find a peaceful spot that is within walking distance of your home? The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust also run volunteering opportunities on their sites, so you have the chance to get outdoors, meet new people and do some good in your local community – a super mood boost!

Gardening

Did you know that you can burn between 100 to 250 calories every half hour whilst gardening? Moving your body whilst moving earth is a great way to feel good. It’s also a great way to get a hold of seasonal, homegrown food. Why not dedicate a patch of your garden to growing fruits or vegetables? Over winter you can burn those calories by preparing the land, building raised beds and filling them with compost ready for planting up in the spring. You will then have no excuse to not head outside and tend to your plants whilst they are growing during the rest of the year. If access to enough outside space is an issue for you, why not apply for an allotment? Or if your gardening skills aren’t quite ready for an entire allotment plot, why not join in with your local community garden? Community gardens are a great way to meet new people, get outdoor exercise, learn new skills and improve your mood. Plus, you might get to take home some vegetables for free!

Running (and doing your bit for your community along the way)

We appreciate that there will be some keen fitness fans amongst you, so for our final suggestion we were inspired by local ‘ploggers’ – joggers who pick up litter whilst they run. Runners Against Rubbish was set up to encourage runners to pick up rubbish when they see it and are able to safely remove it. Could you take some gloves and a bin bag on your next run, or encourage your running club to have a weekend session dedicated to running and litter picking? Litter picking equipment is often available to hire through your local council so check with them if you don’t want to invest in your own clean up equipment. Another idea is to join your local Good Gym. When you join Good Gym you and the group go and help out local community projects and then run back to the meeting spot. Another great way to feel good and do good!

Hopefully these suggestions have given you some ideas on how you can combine exercise and the outdoors. If you have any other suggestions that you would like us to feature then please get in touch!

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.