Today we are talking about mental health. In fact we are joining in with the rest of the nation as part of national Time to Talk Day. Although LifeLab focuses on the physical benefits of healthy choices, mental health is an important part of a young person’s whole wellbeing.

Here our Senior Research Assistant Polly Langdon talks about how, through empowering young people to make the right choices, their mental health also benefits.

We don’t need a reason to talk about the health of our young people, we do it all the time here at LifeLab, but this initiative gives us a chance to reflect on how we are impacting on the mental health of those who take part in the project.

Of course the main focus of our work is on the physical wellbeing of the young person, examining what happens as a consequence of the choices we make.

When teenagers come into LifeLab they can try out different ways of measuring their health and through their own scientific exploration, can take control of the choices they make in terms of diet and exercise.

It is that self-efficacy, empowering them to know they can make decisions for themselves, that has huge cross over with their mental wellbeing.

In the same way recognising that perhaps other influences are affecting what choices they make with their diet, the same could be said for how they take care of their own mental health.

Having that confidence in themselves to make good choices is a great by-product of what we do.

Another aspect of our work is how we introduce students to academics and researchers through our ‘Meet the Scientist’ sessions. This again has real benefits in that young people have their eyes open to what possibilities are out there and what is in their power to achieve.

Having their aspirations raised and horizons expanded undoubtedly has a positive impact on their mental health.

The wellbeing of our young people is getting ever greater attention. How they deal with the societal pressures from social media and peers and what impact it has on their mental health is something that past generations have not been exposed to in the same way.

The Time to Talk initiative is a great way of highlighting how we can look after our mental health, recognising when it is in need of some care and how important it is to start the conversation.