‘Just do something you enjoy!’ Have official targets made exercise a chore – and happiness more elusive?

We all know roughly how many minutes we should be spending getting sweaty every week, thanks to repeated messages from national governments and the World Health Organization. When it comes to mental health, the picture is a lot less clear

Rachel Ashe has always struggled with her mental health. But after a particularly vile year, she impulsively took part in the Loony Dook, a New Year’s Day swim in the chilly Firth of Forth in Scotland. “I hated it!” she says. “But afterwards, I felt just a little glimmer of hope.”

On her return home to Swansea, that glimmer was enough to motivate her to take to the water again and invite others experiencing mental health challenges to come along. Five years on, Ashe, who has complex mental health issues, an autism diagnosis and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, heads up Mental Health Swims, a peer-support community with 140 groups across the UK.