Fitness and Mental Illness

Social Motivation and Physical Activity

You're Not Alone!

Physical activity isn't something that you have to do on your own! There is a variety of ways that you can incorporate social activities into your daily exercise regiment to make it something that you look forward to doing rather than it being something that you HAVE to do. Methods such as getting a pet, incorporating competition, utilizing fitness trackers, and having a social support group might leave you feeling more inclined to get up and go!

Our Little Social Motivators:

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Pets!

Our furry little friends and companions are a perfect social motivator to get moving and have been shown to boost serotonin levels of their owners. For dog owners, our little canine friends require lots of physical activity. To keep them and us healthy raising a dog requires for us to take them on walks, doggy playdates, as well as regular home play days. As a result of this pet and owner relationship, 63.9% of owners reported walking their dog and that dog walkers were more than 2.5 times more likely to achieve PA guidelines (Soares et al. 2015). So go get outside and take you and your pet on a stroll!

Competition

Competition helps friends, family, and the community get together to improve both mental and physical health.

Social Support

With social support many participants feel like they have a greater goal to work towards in terms of their health. This also supports the autonomy of the participant.

Fitness Trackers

Fitness trackers are a great way of encouraging movement as well as healthy lifestyle changes. They help remind us of our goals and can even bring up competition with friends and or family memebers.

Pets

Meeting the daily needs for your furry friend can also increase the motivation to accomplish physical activity on a daily basis.