European Awareness Campaign
Connecting Sport & Physical Activity with Mental Health
ΜENS Project
«Life is like a bike. To keep your balance, you have to keep moving»: Albert Einstein combines in one sentence the laws of Physics with a life attitude. Another source of inspiration for the holistic approach of Mental Health through an active living, through the use of the positive effect that sport and physical exercise have on our daily mood and mental balance.
A link that aims to establish the five-month European Campaign “Life is like a bike” (February-June 2018) and will be held in parallel in 12 European countries, as the main goal of the MENS Project, the European project, which is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus + program. MENS project is implemented with the involvement of 17 organizations, from 12 EU Member States, active in the field of mental health and / or sports and physical exercise.
The main objective of the MENS project, the coordinator of which is the organization “Social Cooperative Activities of Vulnerable Groups – EDRA” (www.edra-coop.gr) – is the establishment of the European Network of Active Living for Mental Health (ENALMH) highlighting the crucial meaning of the link between Physical Exercise and Sports for the prevention, the treatment and the rehabilitation in the field of Mental Health.
The “Life is Like a bike” campaign is based on the results of the European survey among organizations and individuals about their experience and their opinions on the contribution of physical exercise and sport to mental health through specially designed questionnaires for sports organizations, mental health providers (recipients of their services or professionals) and the general population. The survey lasted two months (October-November 2017) and was completed with 2,656 participants from 12 European countries.
Based on the survey data, a positive attitude towards the link between “sport / exercise and mental health” arises, but also a lack of motivation and of in-depth knowledge. Therefore, the “Life is Like a Bike” campaign acquires an informative but also encouraging character to provide valid information to those who have not yet adopt the active living, as a resounding confirmation for those who have adopted an active daily routine but also as a further reinforcement of the existing initiatives.
Keep balance, Keep moving. Life is like a bike!
MENS Project Videos
MENS Project Videos
Project Material
Campaign Material
Final Conference Material
Final Conference Minutes
The present volume is the final deliverable of the MENS project that includes the Minutes of the Final Conference which took place in Athens in June 14-15, 2018. For the policy papers a specific volume is published, including the 12 Policy Papers covering different aspects of the connection of Sport and Physical Activities with Mental Health.
Thus, in this booklet you will find the following selected materials of the Conference:
- The detailed agenda of the Conference
- The opening speech by the MENS Project Manager presenting the vision of the project and the overall initiative on the connection of Sport and Physical Activities with Mental Health.
- An outline presentation of the MENS Project where a detailed description of the project development, the project aims and outcomes are provided.
- A condensed presentation of the Research conducted during 2017 in 12 countries to collect data on the situation and connection between Sport and Physical Activity and Mental health field, throughout organizations and individuals across Europe, in order to prepare the Ground for the European Awareness Campaign that followed the next year.
- The “Life is Like a bike” Awareness campaign
- The Statutes of the European Network of Active Living for Mental Health (ENALMH) which is seated in Brussels, Belgium after its establishment on February 1st.