Getting Fit by Doing Good: Exercise Plus Volunteering Linked to Better Mental Health
A study of 2,856 people involved with the UK charity GoodGym, whose members run, walk or cycle to help isolated older people and community projects, found participation was associated with lower mental ill health and loneliness and higher life satisfaction.
HealthGNGV Editorial Team4 min readLast reviewed October 26, 2026
What if a workout could also help a neighbour? That is the idea behind GoodGym, a UK non-profit whose members run, cycle or walk to a destination where they volunteer, whether that is a community organisation needing a hand or an isolated older person who would welcome a visit. A new study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine suggests the combination may do a lot of good for the volunteers themselves.
Researchers Maria Cotofan, Christian Krekel and Ekaterina Oparina worked with GoodGym to analyse survey and administrative data from 2,856 respondents. According to a summary published by the London School of Economics on 21 September 2026, participants reported lower levels of mental ill health and loneliness, alongside stronger feelings of belonging, connectedness and trust.
The numbers are notable. In the researchers' most conservative estimate, taking part was associated with an improvement in mental health of 0.23 standard deviations. Life satisfaction was on average 0.43 points higher, and among people whose last participation was more than six months earlier it was still 0.31 points higher. For context, the authors note that the 0.43-point difference is about 63% of the gap in life satisfaction between employed and unemployed people.
GoodGym has grown considerably since it began in 2009. According to the LSE summary, it has more than 25,000 members, has helped over 58,000 people and has completed around 383,000 tasks. The researchers argue that their findings support social prescribing, in which doctors and other professionals refer people with unmet social or emotional needs to community activities, and that pairing exercise with volunteering could be a practical, cost-effective and scalable way to support mental health.
As with most research of this kind, the results describe associations rather than proven cause and effect, and they come from one programme run by one organisation, which worked with the researchers. Even so, they add to growing evidence that moving our bodies and helping others can be a powerful mix, and that the benefits may last well after the last run.
Why it matters
Low-cost community activities that combine movement and kindness could become a useful complement to mental health care.
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What you can do
Look for a local group that pairs exercise with volunteering, or simply walk to visit a neighbour who might enjoy the company.
