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How Community Can Boost Your Mental Health

 This week (12–18 May 2025) is Mental Health Awareness Week, a time dedicated to increasing awareness of mental health conditions and treatments. It is one of the UK’s largest mental health campaigns and is led by the Mental Health Foundation.1

Strikingly, 1 in 4 people in England will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year. With anxiety and depression being most commonly diagnosed.2

This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is ‘Community’. The Mental Health Foundation recognises the power of feeling part of a community, encouraging a sense of belonging and safety amongst the global population. Sadly, between 2022 and 2023, around 3.7 million people in the UK and Ireland reported often or always feeling lonely.3 Loneliness can have a detrimental impact on mental health but when communities are built and nurtured– online or in person – they can help tackle this statistic and support better mental health and wellbeing.

Tips on joining or building a supportive community:

When you are lonely it can be incredibly difficult to connect with other people, however, if you pluck up the courage and try you could be surprised at the rewards that await.

  1. Connect with people nearby – Join a sports team, take part in a local book club to discuss the latest publications, or say hello to a neighbour and see if they are up for a chat.
  2. Find people with similar interests – Join a community garden and learn how to grow fresh produce, find an online gaming community, or if trivia is your thing, rally up a team and get quizzing in your local pub!
  3. Reach out on your local Facebook page – Most communities have one and if not, create one!
  4. Bring colleagues together –Organise an office step challenge or host a bake-off for some lighthearted competition.
  5. Do something small for a big reward – Compliment your local barista or share a smile with someone on the street. Small gestures can build meaningful daily connections.

Did you know that being sociable impacts your gut microbiome?

We know that having interactions with others can improve daily wellbeing, but it can also impact the microbial composition of your gut microbiome too.4-5 By shaking hands, giving someone a hug, or sharing a kiss, you’re sharing microbes and adding a little boost to your gut microbiome. Now this is a great reason to embrace community.

 

 

Have you heard of the gut-brain connection?

Your social community is not the only community that is important for your mental health. The microbial community that resides in your gut microbiome plays a vital role too.

The gut and the brain are connected via the vagus nerve, the body’s longest cranial nerve. The vagus nerve allows a two-way communication between the brain and the gut, which means that the brain can send signals and messages to the gut and vice versa.

We still need more scientific research to understand the full scope of the gut-brain connection, but some studies have demonstrated that diet can have an impact on mental health disorders and could be used as an adjunct treatment.6

Positive mental health outcomes have been reported when patients struggling with major depression follow diets such as the Mediterranean Diet which focuses largely on plant-diversity, fibre, fermented foods, healthy fat sources such as oily fish and olive oil, and good quality meat on occasion.6 All of these dietary components work towards promoting a diverse gut microbiome, one of the key characteristics of a “healthy” gut. It is important to note that the Mediterranean Diet does not completely omit foods high in fat, salt, or sugar but these are limited to roughly 20% of total intake.

Cooking inspiration

If you’re in need of some new cooking inspiration to help increase your plant diversity, why not take a look at this blog post which has got breakfast, lunch, and dinner covered (and dessert, too!).

Being mindful

As well as diet, mindfulness-based practices such as yoga, meditation and breathwork have also been shown to have a positive impact on the gut microbiome and mental health, with some studies suggesting that practicing mindfulness encourages the composition of the gut microbiome to become more diverse.7

Caring for your microbes and mental health

See below for some simple suggestions on how you can care for your microbial community today and, in turn, protect your mental health.

 

References

  1. Mental Health Foundation (2025) Available at: Mental Health Awareness Week | Mental Health Foundation (Accessed: 20 March 2025)
  2. Mind (2025) Available at: Mental health facts and statistics – Mind (Accessed: 20 March 2025)
  3. Campaign to End Loneliness (2024) Available at: Younger Brits report higher levels of loneliness | Campaign to End Loneliness (Accessed: 20 March 2025)
  4. Hall et al (2023) Communication Research 52(3)
  5. Kort et al (2014) Microbiome 2(41)
  6. Jacka et al (2017) BMC Med 15(1): 23
  7. Wang et al (2022) Front Microbiol 24(12): 719829