Apparently the most popular age group to use gyms is 18 - 34. I joined a local gym last year, aged 53. Oh well, better late than never.
I joined the gym because I wanted to take better care of my health. I was beginning to find myself feeling a bit stiff when getting out of a chair.
I wouldn’t say my 20 minute, mostly daily sessions are “crushing it” at the gym. However, they have been helpful. I’m back to springing out of a chair again.
Improving physical fitness is all about training. Which raises the interesting question of whether improving mental fitness works in a similar way.
But first, let’s remind ourselves of what mental fitness is. “Mental fitness”, according to Smiling Mind is:
Our ability to be at our best each day, navigate challenges, and support a state of positive mental wellbeing. It’s our foundation for thriving.
Mental fitness workouts
When it comes to progress in mental fitness, I discovered that mental fitness can be measured, and can be improved, in a way similar to physical fitness. According to a University of Wollongong Thesis.
As in physical fitness, mental fitness requires the practice of intentional activities to create positive habits of mind that lead to higher levels of well-being, optimal functioning and quality of life outcomes.
What kind of intentional activities are we talking about here?
A Flinders University blog says that, just like the physical fitness space, different activities have different psychological effects:
• Practice Awareness (e.g. meditation) → improved focus, concentration and present moment awareness
• Practice Reflection (e.g. journaling) → self-understanding, mood repair
• Practice Future Orientation (e.g. goal setting) → clarity, purpose, motivation
• Engage with People (e.g. mentoring) → social skills, support network, sense of belonging
• Tackle Problems (e.g. make difficult decisions) → fear reduction, increased confidence
• Engage in Cognitively Stimulating Activities (e.g. games, puzzles) → improved memory, vocab, attention, concentration and other cognitive skills
• Try new things → self-understanding, fear reduction, new knowledge and skills
• Develop a Connection to Place (e.g. time in nature) → sense of belonging, transcendence, calm
• Develop a Connection to Spirit (e.g. spiritual practice) → belonging, transcendence, meaning and purpose, connection
• Engage in Learning (e.g. do a course) → new knowledge and skills, self-confidence, opportunities
• Reflect on your Thinking (e.g. psychotherapy) → self-understanding, emotional and behaviour repair
• Engage in Mind/body activities (e.g. breathing retraining) → calm, sense of control, emotional and behavioural repair, improved physical fitness
• Build Habits → confidence, sense of control, varied outcomes (depending on habits built)
The idea here is to add different mental fitness workouts to your day/week/month. What you add will depend on what it is you are working towards.
The goal of mental fitness
We all have different mental fitness goals, because none of us experiences life in quite the same way.
Q. What would a mentally fit version of yourself in 2025 look like? Consider this in light of actual or potential challenges you face with:
1. Work
2. Primary personal relationships
Improving mental fitness
For me, improving my physical fitness had a pretty simple goal and was easy to measure.
Measuring improvements in mental fitness seems more - nebulous. How do we measure something we can’t just take a quick, objective test for?
The Flinders University blog says one thing we can do is ask ourselves whether the activities or “training” we are undertaking have been helpful when it comes to our mental fitness.
When it comes to the word “helpful” I think it’s useful to think in terms of “trending upwards”. It captures the idea of progress, which is energising. It means we don’t have to be focused on hitting a specific goal, in an area of life where goals might be hard to specifically identify. It’s a good fit with the word “helpful”.
This has got me thinking about how my spiritual resources are helpful to my mental fitness. I’m facing a significant health challenge at the moment. My raw emotional response is a desire to stick my head into the sand and ignore the problem. I’m not one of those Pollyanna-types who assumes everything will work out fine. But when I stop and lean into my spiritual resources, I can face reality while still having a sense of hope. As a follower of Jesus, I believe that God is with me, guiding me, and will lead me to a world much better than this:
"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." [Psalm 73:23-26]
This tells me I’m not alone. There is something outside of myself who is on my side and has my back. That gives me a sense of comfort and peace in the face of feelings of powerlessness and despair. That’s helpful for my mental fitness as I face this and other challenges.
Q. What activities (mental fitness workouts) are you engaged in? (They may be on the list above - or perhaps you have others).
Q. What is your habitual pattern when it comes to these activities?
Q. Are they helping? In other words, is there evidence that your mental fitness is “trending upwards” or “trending downwards”?
Q. If it feels like it is trending in either direction, what do you want to commit yourself to doing and what will this take?
Training - aargh!
Practicing intentional activities requires effort. However, it’s an effort that is worth it. As our mental fitness improves, challenges can impact us less, and we have more resources to respond with when they do. That’s good for our well-being, optional functioning and quality of life outcomes.
