What’s the biggest single cause of death for men under 44 in the UK? I’m guessing you are thinking heart disease, or lung cancer or even accidents, if you are, you’d be wrong. The answer is it’s themselves, suicide is the biggest killer amongst young men. Over 6,000 men kill themselves every year, that’s 16 wasted lives every day.
That doesn’t count the other kinds of lives lost through despair, anxiety and depression, that’s the people who die from alcohol or drug misuse which is just another way of coping when life gets too much. All suicides are preventable, they didn’t need to happen. If an illness was causing that many deaths there would be national campaigns but because it’s suicide nobody likes to talk about it?
WE ARE FAILING OUR YOUNG MEN
If you are reading my blog hoping to hear more of my tales of walking in the Scottish hills I am sorry but you’ll be disappointed today. I’ve come to realise that I have been writing about mental health for a long time without knowing it. I’ve written about how I feel when I step outdoors, about my need to spend time in contact with nature. I don’t claim to be sane, whatever sanity is, but what good mental health I have is due in no small part to the enjoyment and release I find in walking our hills.
Another thing that helps me get through the day is the fact that, through my writing, I am able to express myself. It gives me a way of exorcizing the demons within me that many other men don’t have. The steel eyed men portrayed by actors like Clint Eastwood in the tough guy image Hollywood loves us to admire probably don’t do a lot for the mental health of us mere mortals. If Dirty Harry broke down and sobbed every now and again it might give the rest of us permission to talk about it when life just gets too much.
Ashley Boelens
There are people trying to do something about the problem. Ashley Boelens is walking 1500 miles in support of the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) a charity taking a stand against male suicide. CALM aims to offer support to men of any age who are down or in crisis and aims to challenge the barriers that stop men seeking help.
You can find out more about Ashley’s walking challenge by reading his blog, Views from an Urban Lake
Donate to his fundraising effort here
Mental health is like any other kind of health. Sometimes you get out of bed feeling fine, at other times you catch a cold or go down with flu or something even worse. Mental health is no different, like our general health sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. There should be no stigma in seeking help.
Walking is better than medication for treating mild to moderate depression. That doesn’t mean it easy to do, if you are depressed then the thought of even going for a walk might be too much to bear but if you can take the first steps you’ll be heading towards better health. It’s not easy to change your life when mental health issues bear down on you. I used to work for a charity that set up walking groups across the Highlands where I live. The aim of the groups was to encourage people whose health was at risk to take some gentle exercise.
SWEAT IS ANXIETY LEAVING THE BODY Read my feature with the Armchair Mountaineer on how a day on the hills helped me.
I did everything I could to get people active. I found it very difficult to convince folk who didn’t walk how good it could be for them. I suppose if you are not feeling great the last thing you need is some bloke in walking boots turning up on your doorstep telling you to switch off the TV and go for a walk. That’s not the sort of message you want to hear.
I had mental health problems a few years ago, so I know the challenges. I managed to go walking everyday, even if it was only 200 yds some days. Gradually the clouds lifted from me. I was lucky, I had the time and the opportunity to walk and, perhaps even more important, people to support me.
It’s vital that we have a safety net to catch the men and women who fall. Do support Ashley if you can, even if it’s just a few encouraging words.