Lesson video

Hello there everyone, my name is Ms. Shaw.

I'm really pleased that you're joining me today to look at how we can take action in order to minimise any mental wellbeing concerns that we might have within ourselves.

So this lesson will focus on the importance of talking and sharing our feelings with people and engaging in physical activity and other hobbies, and anything else that we can connect with in order to help minimise some of the wellbeing concerns we might feel.

Now, mental health is a really emotive subject, so if you feel stressed or you think this is a rather sensitive topic for you, make sure that you check in with your trusted adults before starting or doing this lesson, or make sure that they're nearby, if you need them.

So for this lesson, you are going to need an exercise book or some paper, and you're also going to need a pen.

And again, we'll be using our brains, so you need to make sure that's with us as well.

So hopefully you've already done your intro quiz.

And what we're going to do to start off with is to look at how we can recognise some coping strategies that we might want to implement.

Then we're going to focus on how physical health impacts on our mental wellbeing.

And if you remember back to previous lessons we know that physical health is just as important as our mental health and wellbeing.

We're then going to look at the importance of positivity.

And finally, we'll cover some key learning points and you will complete your exit quiz.

So just to recap from some of our prior learning, two of the key words that I've put on the slide below are covered in previous lessons.

And I'd like you to choose the two correct ones.

I'll give you a few seconds just to read through them and to think which ones are the correct ones that we've covered previously.

Were you correct? Hoping that you remembered that the Amygdalae were the collections of cells in our brain which trigger our fear response.

And also that Insomnia, that we looked at last time, was the difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep.

Now the other two words, which were endorphins and positivity, we're going to be covering in today's lesson.

The key words that we're going to be focusing on today are optimism, which means viewing aspects of life in a very positive way, rather than being negative and being a bit of a mood Hoover all the time.

Coping strategies are techniques that we can use to manage our feelings or stress.

And endorphins are chemicals, which we have in our brain.

Now they are released to reduce pain and relieve stress and are kind of our happy hormones that make us feel really good.

So in previous lessons we've looked at what is mental health? Now, just as a quick reminder, mental health is about our emotions, our moods, and thoughts and feelings.

And again, looking after our mental health is just as important as looking after our physical health.

Now I'd like you to cast your mind back to some of the ways that you identified as coping strategies in your stress container.

Can you remember any of them? What I'd like you to do is to pause this video now to complete that task.

Try and generate a list of any ways that you think that your physical activity can improve your mental wellbeing.

Now, if you cast your mind back to the coping strategies, I remember the things that I enjoy are going to the gym or taking my dog on a big, long walk or spending time with my family.

And that's because that makes me feel happy.

Now, physical exercise is one way of releasing the hormones that we have in our brain, called endorphins.

And we'll take a closer look at those in a few seconds.

Physical exercise can help you relax, it can improve your sleep, which if you remember back to last lesson, we know that sleep is really important for us.

It can help us relieve stress, can make your immune system better, so help you fight off any colds or illnesses that you might feel.

It can have a positive impact on your anxiety or stresses which is obviously a really good thing.

Can make you feel more confident and better about yourself.

It can help your brain functions.

It can help improve your memory and it can also boost your mood and make you feel happy, thanks to the endorphins.

Now, the endorphins are basically happy hormones that we have in our brains that are released by our glands, to be specific.

Now what they are, are like natural pain relievers.

So the more we have in our body, the better we'll feel which is obviously a good thing, isn't it? So what we're going to look at next is why happiness and positivity are so important to our mental wellbeing.

We're going to be looking at how we can help both ourselves and others achieve more of a state of happiness, when we're feeling low.

I want you to have a quick think about what happiness and positivity actually are and why you think they are important to mental wellbeing.

So what does it mean to be happy? In this activity I'd like you to consider some ways that people can be happy.

So maybe jot those down, and make a list of things that make you happy.

So what does happiness mean? Ways people can be happy and list how you can be happy and I'd like you to pause the video to complete your task and then resume once we're finished.

So I'm hoping that you've got a list of things that make you happy.

Now, happiness and positivity can spread just like a smile is contagious.

So for example, if I was walking down the street and I walked past you and I gave you a really mean and moody glare, you'd be like, "Ooh, what's wrong with her? Don't really want to speak to her.

She doesn't look very friendly." However, if instead I just gave you a massive, big smile, 9 times out of 10, most people will smile back.

There might be the odd one that thinks, "What's that weirdo smiling at?" But actually most people find that smiling spreads happiness because it makes you feel better.

So being happy can help your mental health.

And it has a ripple effect that spreads out.

So usually if I've smiled at somebody, they then go on to smile at somebody else and that smiling can make you feel better, and also the other person feel better too.

So the key learning from this lesson is that physical activity can improve your mental wellbeing which we've covered quite a few times already.

Plus endorphins that are our happy hormones help us feel happier.

So finding ways to release our endorphins is the best way forward.

And also, that the endorphins that we release affect our happiness and our positivity.

They spread like a ripple effect.

So we can help ourselves and others with our mental wellbeing concerns by just being more happy and positive.

Now, as usual, like we've always said, talking to a trusted adult helps.

So if you feel like you are struggling to be positive or happy then try speaking to one of your trusted adults and see if they can come up with any ways of supporting you as well.

Now I'd like you to complete your exit quiz, to check your understanding of the content of this lesson.

And very well done on completing the third lesson in this unit.

Bye for now.