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Diane Crone and colleagues describe a collaboration between a university sport and exercise science department and the local mental health trust that not only resulted in a number of practice‐based research projects looking at the health benefits of physical activity, but also directly improved sports and other physical activity options for mental health service users. It has also provided final year degree students with vocational experiences, improving their career prospects.

With strong evidence to show that most of us feel mentally better if we take exercise, there's clearly a positive relationship between physical activity and mental health ‐ but what's responsible for it? In this article, Diane Crone summarises the theories that have been developed by researchers to explain how it works. She then reviews the research that has asked exercisers for their own opinions about what makes the difference for them and concludes with some practical advice for people using or providing exercise opportunities.

People with long‐term, severe mental health problems are at higher risk of premature death linked to lifestyle. They are more likely to smoke, to be overweight, and to take little or no exercise. Their physical health needs also tend notoriously to be neglected by the health services. Diane Crone and colleagues conducted a comparative survey of the health behaviours and lifestyles of mental health service users in one city in the south west, and found much cause for concern.

Diane Crone‐Grant and Trudi Grant describe an evidence‐based programme designed to promote mental health through developing physical wellbeing.

Diane Crone at the University of Gloucestershire has been involved for over a decade in the design, delivery, evaluation and research both of exercise referral schemes and the use of physical activity for people with mental health problems. In this network page, she welcomes the Mental Health Foundation's new Up and Running? campaign that aims to promote exercise as an alternative to medication for treatment for mild and moderate mental health problems, and challenges the leisure industry to open its doors to people with mental health problems.

This paper provides a summary of the current state of knowledge on the use of physical activity as an adjunctive treatment in schizophrenia. There is a well documented relationship between physical activity and mental health, which is reflected in numerous health policy recommendations for practice, in both the promotion of mental health and in the treatment of mental health problems. In schizophrenia, this association is also recognised, and research has suggested that participation in physical activity regimes can have beneficial effects on positive and negative symptoms, psychological well‐being and anxiety and tension. However, a neglected area of research is in the potential for physical activity to remediate the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Physical activity has been shown to enhance cognitive function in a wide variety of clinical and non‐clinical populations, however this body of research has not yet extended to schizophrenia populations. The authors argue that this should be a future priority.

People with long‐term mental health problems have a considerably higher risk of physical illness and premature mortality than the general population. This paper describes a survey of lifestyle behaviours and health perceptions of people with severe mental illness (SMI) living in Gloucester. Findings were compared with data from the general population of Gloucestershire to reveal significant health differences that are currently being addressed through a multi‐agency health alliance established to initiate targeted health promoting opportunities for people with severe mental illness in the community.