Article by Rhianna Amos – Sales Agent at Wilsons
This year, amid the current pandemic, I needed a challenge. Not just any old challenge, something that would also make a difference. A cause that I was passionate about. Coincidently the next week I was asked to join Snap Warrnambool in their team for The Push Up Challenge. I would not describe myself as a physically super strong woman, but I am certainly a determined one. So of course, I threw myself into it – 3046 pushups in 21 days.
Sounds doable, right?
What impacted me the most, not taking into account how sore I was every single day, was the little snippets I learnt along the way. We all know someone, or have ourselves lived with mental health challenges, but this challenge taught me just how prevalent it is.
The Push Up Challenge was created by Nick Hudson and designed to raise awareness and funds for mental health.
This year, to date, there has already been $4 million dollars raised. Wow. Imagine the impact this will have on lives.
Each day we were given an amount of push ups to achieve throughout the course of the day. For me, to be real with you, most were in lots of 20 or 30 in the ad breaks of my favorite tv shows after dinner. It wasn’t something I set up a workout for – I just got them done as I could.
Here are some examples of what each day’s push ups related to. – where it all hit home for me.
- 171 – in 2018-2019 17.1% of Australians received a prescription for mental health medication
- 147 – if we reduce our phone use for one hour before bed time it would lead to an extra 21 minutes of sleep per night or 147 minutes per week
- 201 – 20.1% of Australians live with mental ill health. That is a staggering 1 in 5
- 180 – 1.8 million Australians over the age of 15 feel they have insufficient social support and one in four of us feel lonely 3 or more times per week
- 157 – 15.7% of Australian women suffer from anxiety related mental health issues
- 232 – of the 3046 push ups, 2320 represent men who lost their lives to suicide in 2018. That’s over 75% of the total lives lost
- 105 – it is possible that getting 15 mins of bright sunlight each morning could reduce levels of mental distress – that’s 105 minutes per week
1 in 5 Australians is living with mental health challenges – they might not be open about it, I guess the simple message that I will take from this is – be kind, always.
Over $10,000 was raised for Headspace Warrnambool – well done to all involved! The money raised will go towards local headspace initiatives to support the young people of Warrnambool and surrounding areas with their mental health.
Rhianna Amos
