Employees of all businesses face many challenges. Both inside and outside of work, there are deadlines to meet, children to feed, targets to meet and bills to pay. Not only can this take its toll on your time and money, it can also affect your mental health.

Here at the lcv group we have our very own health and wellbeing officer on-hand to help: Mike Harrison. We wanted to support colleagues with any challenges they might be having and decided to hire an expert for the job.

A licensed chaplain, Mike has worked exclusively for the lcv group for four years. He brings a lifetime of experience to the role having worked in various fields throughout his career, and is always on call for all of our colleagues. Whatever issues our team might be facing, in the office or at home, Mike can point them in the right direction.

For Mental Health Awareness Week, we caught up with Mike to get some top tips that anyone can try to make big changes to their mental wellbeing.

what can i do to improve my mental wellbeing today?

Mike says: “As a mental health first aider, I would say to look towards exercise first before any medication. Exercise is one of the best tonics you can have for any mental health and stress issues."

When it comes to picking the right form of exercise, he makes three suggestions - one of which is a potential game-changer.

mike’s top-three tips

“One of the best exercises that has been proved for mental health is walking. Another is cycling. It’s a proven fact now that walking, cycling, and more recently another has been recommended: cold water swimming," he says.

"There’s been a big focus on cold water swimming and its benefits in assisting people with mental health problems.”

what makes walking, cycling and cold-water swimming so good?

Mike explains: “You need to start to make your blood pump around your body. It’s about moving your heart rate up a couple of notches so that your brain focuses differently. You focus on your breathing, and not the issues that are in your head – it parks them for a while.”

can you just have a cold shower instead of cold swimming?

“People can start with a cold shower, but it’s just a quick hit; it makes you feel brighter, but swimming combines cold water with exercise.”

Also, cold water swimming has the added benefit of getting you out of the house and socialising with other people: “There’s also the relationships you build up with other people; you start to communicate better with other people,” he explains.

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For more about Mental Health Awareness Week you can visit the website here.