Scott Mills on why we need mental health lessons in school and the importance of physical exercise
Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills has urged for mental health to be taught as a subject at school
Mental health is a subject close to Scott’s heart and told the UK’s only magazine devoted to bettering mental health, Happiful, about his history of anxiety, which began at the age of 13.
He said: “I just felt a bit down. I would feel very tired and had no motivation to do anything. I didn’t finish my GCSEs because I would get to the school gates and the anxiety was disabling. I’d think: “I can’t go in there.”
“It was the same when I started in radio aged 16 in Southampton. I’d be in the car for an hour with mum, who would be coaxing me to go in. I’d also wake up at night having panic attacks. But back then, I didn’t know what was happening.”
Scott revealed that he went to see a psychiatrist in his teens, and was prescribed tablets to regulate his heartbeat. Having been honest about his mental health, the presenter has used his experience to campaign for support on air.
When asked about how to tackle male mental health and how the UK can focus on suicide prevention, Scott said: “It’s different for every single person. Mental health lessons in schools, surely that’s got to happen. I would have found that so beneficial, comforting and less isolating.
“Hopefully there will be a point soon where schools will get to that. Sex education has been taught for years. Why not mental health? It’s just as important.”
Drawing from his own experience of suffering with anxiety as a teenager, Scott has spoken about the link between physical and mental health, with the presenter getting into a new “mad gym” programme.
He said: “I feel amazing, I’m on a serious health kick – working out four times a week with a trainer plus extra cardio. Exercise really does help the mind.”
ENDS
For more information contact Maurice Richmond, Media and Communications Officer, at maurice.richmond@happiful.com or call 01276 580047