Sex, beer, or a hug... How do you beat your low mood...?

13 April 2004

The Mental Health Foundation has carried out a survey to find out how the UK population copes with low mood and what they do to beat it. The results, released today, show striking differences according to geographical location and gender. The research is a reminder that everyone needs to look after their mental health, and possessing positive and helpful ways of coping with low mood is an important part of this.

So, how do people in the UK cope with low mood? If they're feeling lonely or down, what helps them to get through and feel better?

Respondents overwhelmingly answered that having 'someone to talk to' helped. People from London and the Midlands rated this most highly (83 per cent and 84 per cent respectively), while people from North West, Wales and Scotland were less likely to choose this option. Londoners and people from Northern Ireland were more likely to use 'exercise' as a coping mechanism (54 per cent and 37 per cent) compared with just 20 per cent of those questioned in the South East and South West.

People from the North West were those most likely to feel better if they spent 'time with family', whilst almost half of the respondents in Scotland and the North East reported 'spending time with a pet' as helpful (41 per cent), compared with just 16 per cent in the Midlands.

People from the North East were the participants who most frequently chose 'sex' as a coping mechanism. People from the Midlands were most likely to choose work (26 per cent compared with 16 per cent in London and 12 per cent in Scotland). People from the Midlands and Scotland were those most likely to have an alcoholic drink to cope with feeling low.

Men and women also differed in their coping strategies.

Women are more likely to choose 'someone to talk to' (83 per cent) than men (68 per cent). Women also report time with the family to be helpful (27 per cent over 19 per cent of men). Men more frequently chose sex (21 per cent versus 9 per cent of women) and receiving 'A hug' came in higher than any category (other than someone to talk to) among both sexes (45 per cent and 57 per cent among men and women respectively).

Overall, people in the UK rated exercise as one of the best coping strategies to use when feeling low, over alcohol. This supports previous research carried out on the benefits of exercise for mental well-being. Today, many GPs prescribe exercise for common mental illnesses such as depression.

Many different coping strategies exist and it is important to remember to look after your mental health as well as your physical health. Don't neglect your mental and emotional well-being, give it some thought once in a while, and seek help if you think you need it.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said:

"This research is light-hearted, but there is a very serious message behind it. The very commonness of mental illness is one of the most powerful messages we have when we are trying to fight stigma. But a 'them and us' attitude still exists. 1 in 4 people is likely to experience some kind of mental health problem in any one year. People experiencing mental health problems should be encouraged and not afraid to seek help."

 

Editor's notes

Media enquiries only:
Celia Richardson / Fran Gorman, Mental Health Foundation Press Office, Tel: +44 (0)20 7802 0312 / 313 or, out of hours, Tel: +44 (0)7721 587643; email: crichardson@mhf.org.uk / fgorman@mhf.org.uk

A web-based questionnaire was developed to gather the data for this research and located on the Mental Health Foundation website for 6 weeks. A total of 500 questionnaires were completed online. The majority of participants were aged between 21 and 50 years old.

Mental health problems include anxiety, depression, post-natal depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, manic depression, schizophrenia and eating disorders. For more information on please see: Mental health problems. Factsheet. Mental Health Foundation, 2000.

Key facts

Around one in ten people are likely to have a disabling anxiety disorder at some stage in their life.

An estimated 1 in 10 people will have some form of depression at any one time, with it being most common in people aged 25-44 years.

An estimated 1 in 20 people will have serious depression at any one time. By the year 2020 the World Health Organisation has estimated that clinical depression will be second only to chronic heart disease as an international health burden; this is measured by its impact as a cause of death, disability, incapacity to work and the medical resources it uses.

Approximately 1 in 100 adults in the UK will experience manic depression at some point in their life.

An estimated 1 per cent of the population will have schizophrenia at some point in their life.

1 per cent of women in the UK between the ages of 15-30 years have anorexia nervosa, with 50 per cent of cases occuring before the age of 20.

An estimated 1-2 per cent of adult women in the UK have bulimia nervosa, they tend to be older than those with anorexia nervosa.

For more statistics please see: Statistics on mental health. Factsheet. Mental Health Foundation, 2003.

Tips to improve your mood

Exercise - Exercise is one of the most effective ways to beat stress and depression. You don't have to pound the treadmill for hours on end. A simple walk through your local park can be uplifting. What's more, the effects of exercise on mood are immediate.

Food - By avoiding certain food stressors such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and saturated fats you can help improve your mood. Water, vegetables, fruit, oil rich fish, nuts and seeds, fibre and organic foods can also lift your spirits. Research shows that improving your diet can increase coping skills, improve confidence and help you to feel calm.

Friendship - Just listening and talking to friends who are feeling down can make a huge difference. So make sure your devote time to maintaining your friendships both for their sake and your own.

Work - Ninety one million working days a year are lost to mental ill-health in the UK, yet work gives many people purpose, a sense of identity and can help maintain mental wellbeing. So why don't you promote mental health in your work place? As an employee, it helps to remind colleagues to take a break and look after themselves. People work more effectively and creatively when they are happy. For more information please see: Mental Health in the Workplace: Tackling the effects of stress. Booklet. Mental Health Foundation, 1999.

Mental Health Action Week is an annual event, first started in the 1950s, which aims to raise the public's awareness of mental health problems, and how to look after their mental well-being.

The Mental Health Foundation is the leading UK charity working to improve services for both people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities. It is the only charity to fund and work with both service users and providers and plays an important role in funding research and new approaches to promotion, treatment and care.

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