This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. And after 32 years of enabling people to do hard things, we’ve noticed something worth talking about.<\/p>\n
Nobody signs up for a Discover Adventure challenge to fix their mental health.<\/p>\n
They sign up because a friend did it a few years back and came home changed in some way they couldn’t quite explain. Because a charity they care about needed fundraisers. Because something in them wanted to find out what they were made of. Because they needed a reason to get outside more. Because they said yes before they could talk themselves out of it.<\/p>\n
But something happens out there that isn’t in the itinerary.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>The state we’re in<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n![\"PHOTO-2023-09-27-07-43-09\"](\"https:\/\/blog.discoveradventure.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/PHOTO-2023-09-27-07-43-09.jpg?width=1080&height=810&name=PHOTO-2023-09-27-07-43-09.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\nThe numbers on mental health in the UK don’t make for comfortable reading. In any given week in England, 1 in 5 people report experiencing a common mental health problem such as anxiety or depression.\u00a0According to the Mental Health Foundation<\/a>, 74% of UK adults say they have felt so stressed at some point in the past year that they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.\u00a0Most people reading this will recognise something in those figures \u2014 for themselves, or for someone they know. Mental health is no longer something that happens to other people. It’s the background noise of modern life for many of us.<\/p>\n
Which makes what happens on a multi-day challenge all the more interesting.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
What the outdoors actually does<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\nThere’s a growing body of research into what time in nature does for the human mind \u2014 and the findings are consistent. In recent UK surveys, 80% of people said nature boosts their happiness, 74% reported reduced stress and anxiety, and 71% said it improves their mood.
But it goes beyond a pleasant walk in the park. Research published in 2024 estimated that nature-based recreational physical activity prevented over 10,000 cases of major depressive disorder in England in a single year. Nature-based activities are increasingly being incorporated into NHS social prescribing programmes \u2014 a recognition that what happens outside has measurable clinical value.
What’s particularly relevant for what we do at Discover Adventure is the combination of factors at play on a challenge: sustained physical effort, natural environment, and a goal that genuinely matters to the person pursuing it. Research has found that exercise in natural environments is associated with greater feelings of revitalisation and energy, alongside decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression \u2014 outcomes that indoor exercise alone doesn’t reliably deliver to the same degree.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bit that still surprises us<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n![\"bdb01c75-5321-4537-9a5a-5730ae15a7cd-1\"](\"https:\/\/blog.discoveradventure.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/social-suggested-images\/bdb01c75-5321-4537-9a5a-5730ae15a7cd-1.jpg?width=1600&height=900&name=bdb01c75-5321-4537-9a5a-5730ae15a7cd-1.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nHere’s what 32 years of running challenges has taught us that no research paper quite captures: the mental shift that happens when someone does something physically hard for reasons that go beyond themselves.<\/p>\n
It happens somewhere around hour five on day three, when the conversation slows, and the group just keeps going. When the noise in your head \u2014 the inbox, the meeting, the thing you said last Tuesday \u2014 gets crowded out by the simple, absorbing problem of putting one foot in front of the other. When your body is working hard enough that your mind can’t run its usual background commentary at the same time.<\/p>\n
It happens at the water stop, when someone who’s been quietly struggling for the last two kilometres sits down, drinks something, has a few jelly sweets and looks around \u2014 and you can see them decide to keep going.<\/p>\n
It happens at the end of a long day when people who didn’t know each other a week ago are sitting together not saying very much, and the silence is completely comfortable.<\/p>\n
Researchers at Loughborough University who’ve studied the psychosocial impact of physical challenge found something similar. Their work highlighted the importance of a sense of achievement, well-being, and team cohesion in bringing about positive results, alongside the role of natural environments and the value of individuals taking a break from their daily work routine. What they described in academic language is something we’ve watched happen in front of us, on every trip, for three decades.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why the fundraising element matters more than people realise<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n![\"Fundraisers__on_Great_Wall_of_China_Steps\"](\"https:\/\/blog.discoveradventure.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/Fundraisers__on_Great_Wall_of_China_Steps.jpg?width=1080&height=718&name=Fundraisers__on_Great_Wall_of_China_Steps.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nMany\u00a0of our participants are raising money for a charity they care about. It’s easy to see that as a separate thing \u2014 the fundraising is the fundraising, the challenge is the challenge. But the two are more connected than they appear.<\/p>\n
When the going gets hard \u2014 and it does get hard, that’s the point \u2014 the people who dig deepest are almost always the ones who remember why they’re there. They’re not just getting themselves up the mountain. They’re doing it for something bigger than the view from the top.<\/p>\n
Rob, our General Manager and someone who has been running these challenges for 24 years, puts it plainly:<\/p>\n
\n“People find this mental switch. They say: I’m going to get this done. And they do. It still surprises me, and I find that magic \u2014 absolute magic.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
What finishing actually does to you<\/span><\/h2>\nWe’re not saying a multi-day challenge is therapy. It isn’t. And we would never suggest it as a substitute for proper support.<\/p>\n
But we do think there’s something real in what happens when people choose to be physically uncomfortable on purpose. When they do something their body wants to resist, and find out they actually can. When they’re too tired to perform or pretend. When the mountain doesn’t care what their job title is or how their year has been \u2014 and somehow, that’s exactly what they needed.<\/p>\n
The research backs this up. Studies into physical challenge have found that the sense of achievement and engagement involved plays an important role in enhancing self-confidence, and that confidence doesn’t stay on the mountain. It comes home with you.
The people who come back for a second DA challenge \u2014 and a third, and a fifth \u2014 tend to say something similar when you ask them why. Not just “it was amazing.” Something quieter than that. Something about how it reminds them what they’re capable of. How it resets something. How they come home different in a way that’s hard to explain to people who weren’t there.<\/p>\n
We hear it enough that we’ve stopped being surprised by it. We haven’t stopped being really glad.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you’re thinking about it<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n![\"MyelomaUK2024-DHP03930\"](\"https:\/\/blog.discoveradventure.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/MyelomaUK2024-DHP03930.jpg?width=1080&height=720&name=MyelomaUK2024-DHP03930.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nIf you’re somewhere in the middle of a difficult year, and something in this has resonated \u2014 we’re not going to tell you that signing up for a challenge will fix anything. We don’t think it works like that.<\/p>\n
What we will say is this: a lot of the people who’ve come on our trips over the past 32 years weren’t looking for a mental health intervention. They were looking for a reason to do something hard. And they came home with something they hadn’t expected \u2014 a quieter head, a clearer sense of what they’re capable of, and a memory that belongs entirely to them.<\/p>\n
The view at the top is worth it. But it’s the other thing \u2014 the thing that’s harder to photograph \u2014 that tends to stay with people longest.<\/p>\n
If you’d like to talk about what a challenge involves, or find out which trip might be right for you, we’re always at the end of an email or a phone call.<\/p>\n
![\"CHECK](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/1724399\/9b6d49fd-c245-434c-b9b7-243dfbb97eb1.png\")
<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mental health can be hard to talk about,\u00a0and harder still to ask for help with. If you or someone you know is struggling, please don’t sit with it alone. In the UK, Mind <\/a>offer free information and a helpline (0300 123 3393), and the Samaritans <\/a>are available around the clock on 116 123 \u2014 no crisis required, just someone to talk to. Your GP is always a good first call too. There’s no wrong way to reach out, and no threshold you have to meet before you deserve support.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nThe numbers on mental health in the UK don’t make for comfortable reading. In any given week in England, 1 in 5 people report experiencing a common mental health problem such as anxiety or depression.\u00a0According to the Mental Health Foundation<\/a>, 74% of UK adults say they have felt so stressed at some point in the past year that they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.\u00a0 Most people reading this will recognise something in those figures \u2014 for themselves, or for someone they know. Mental health is no longer something that happens to other people. It’s the background noise of modern life for many of us.<\/p>\n Which makes what happens on a multi-day challenge all the more interesting.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There’s a growing body of research into what time in nature does for the human mind \u2014 and the findings are consistent. In recent UK surveys, 80% of people said nature boosts their happiness, 74% reported reduced stress and anxiety, and 71% said it improves their mood. But it goes beyond a pleasant walk in the park. Research published in 2024 estimated that nature-based recreational physical activity prevented over 10,000 cases of major depressive disorder in England in a single year. Nature-based activities are increasingly being incorporated into NHS social prescribing programmes \u2014 a recognition that what happens outside has measurable clinical value. What’s particularly relevant for what we do at Discover Adventure is the combination of factors at play on a challenge: sustained physical effort, natural environment, and a goal that genuinely matters to the person pursuing it. Research has found that exercise in natural environments is associated with greater feelings of revitalisation and energy, alongside decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression \u2014 outcomes that indoor exercise alone doesn’t reliably deliver to the same degree.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Here’s what 32 years of running challenges has taught us that no research paper quite captures: the mental shift that happens when someone does something physically hard for reasons that go beyond themselves.<\/p>\n It happens somewhere around hour five on day three, when the conversation slows, and the group just keeps going. When the noise in your head \u2014 the inbox, the meeting, the thing you said last Tuesday \u2014 gets crowded out by the simple, absorbing problem of putting one foot in front of the other. When your body is working hard enough that your mind can’t run its usual background commentary at the same time.<\/p>\n It happens at the water stop, when someone who’s been quietly struggling for the last two kilometres sits down, drinks something, has a few jelly sweets and looks around \u2014 and you can see them decide to keep going.<\/p>\n It happens at the end of a long day when people who didn’t know each other a week ago are sitting together not saying very much, and the silence is completely comfortable.<\/p>\n Researchers at Loughborough University who’ve studied the psychosocial impact of physical challenge found something similar. Their work highlighted the importance of a sense of achievement, well-being, and team cohesion in bringing about positive results, alongside the role of natural environments and the value of individuals taking a break from their daily work routine. What they described in academic language is something we’ve watched happen in front of us, on every trip, for three decades.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Many\u00a0of our participants are raising money for a charity they care about. It’s easy to see that as a separate thing \u2014 the fundraising is the fundraising, the challenge is the challenge. But the two are more connected than they appear.<\/p>\n When the going gets hard \u2014 and it does get hard, that’s the point \u2014 the people who dig deepest are almost always the ones who remember why they’re there. They’re not just getting themselves up the mountain. They’re doing it for something bigger than the view from the top.<\/p>\n Rob, our General Manager and someone who has been running these challenges for 24 years, puts it plainly:<\/p>\n “People find this mental switch. They say: I’m going to get this done. And they do. It still surprises me, and I find that magic \u2014 absolute magic.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We’re not saying a multi-day challenge is therapy. It isn’t. And we would never suggest it as a substitute for proper support.<\/p>\n But we do think there’s something real in what happens when people choose to be physically uncomfortable on purpose. When they do something their body wants to resist, and find out they actually can. When they’re too tired to perform or pretend. When the mountain doesn’t care what their job title is or how their year has been \u2014 and somehow, that’s exactly what they needed.<\/p>\n The research backs this up. Studies into physical challenge have found that the sense of achievement and engagement involved plays an important role in enhancing self-confidence, and that confidence doesn’t stay on the mountain. It comes home with you. The people who come back for a second DA challenge \u2014 and a third, and a fifth \u2014 tend to say something similar when you ask them why. Not just “it was amazing.” Something quieter than that. Something about how it reminds them what they’re capable of. How it resets something. How they come home different in a way that’s hard to explain to people who weren’t there.<\/p>\n We hear it enough that we’ve stopped being surprised by it. We haven’t stopped being really glad.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you’re somewhere in the middle of a difficult year, and something in this has resonated \u2014 we’re not going to tell you that signing up for a challenge will fix anything. We don’t think it works like that.<\/p>\n What we will say is this: a lot of the people who’ve come on our trips over the past 32 years weren’t looking for a mental health intervention. They were looking for a reason to do something hard. And they came home with something they hadn’t expected \u2014 a quieter head, a clearer sense of what they’re capable of, and a memory that belongs entirely to them.<\/p>\n The view at the top is worth it. But it’s the other thing \u2014 the thing that’s harder to photograph \u2014 that tends to stay with people longest.<\/p>\n If you’d like to talk about what a challenge involves, or find out which trip might be right for you, we’re always at the end of an email or a phone call.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mental health can be hard to talk about,\u00a0and harder still to ask for help with. If you or someone you know is struggling, please don’t sit with it alone. In the UK, Mind <\/a>offer free information and a helpline (0300 123 3393), and the Samaritans <\/a>are available around the clock on 116 123 \u2014 no crisis required, just someone to talk to. Your GP is always a good first call too. There’s no wrong way to reach out, and no threshold you have to meet before you deserve support.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat the outdoors actually does<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
The bit that still surprises us<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nWhy the fundraising element matters more than people realise<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n
What finishing actually does to you<\/span><\/h2>\n
If you’re thinking about it<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n