As Britain’s fastest woman, Dina Asher-Smith has to stay mentally resilient in sport and life in order to compete in some of the world's toughest sporting events. Speaking exclusively to Grazia about how she maintains a healthy relationship with her mind and body, she said 'having been sporty forever, I’ve always had a positive relationship with myself both physically and mentally, because I always see myself as constantly improving. If I'm not happy with how I handled a situation, I always know next time I’m going to do [make improvement] instead of dwelling on it. It's the same with body confidence, my first thought about my body is never really what it looks like, it's always about wanting to get stronger.'
The Müller Corner Ambassador believes that 'sport can help mental health problems but also prevent them. If you're having a stressful day, it’s nice to go for a run and clear your head, but arguably, if you did regular activities to get your endorphins up then you might be less stressed in the first place. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
WATCH Dina Asher-Smith talk about mental health:
Speaking about her personal experience with managing her emotions before competing, Asher-Smith revealed: 'I used to get nervous, [have] butterflies in my stomach and my heart rate would speed up. That would be the best way to describe my nervousness, it would be more of a physical sensation. I used to sometimes think "oh, what if this doesn’t go well, I’m really nervous", but as I’ve got more experienced I’ve realised that the only thing I can control is my own actions and my own abilities.'
If she needs support, the record-breaking athlete first turns to her 'mum, dad and coach' for advice. 'Then maybe I’ll put it in the group chat. When you talk about stuff you definitely realise that it's ok because either [that person] has been through it and and they can shed light and wisdom, or a problem shared is a problem halved. Even if something seems really bad at the time, once you open up about it, you’re like, I said it and talked about it and life went on, everything is fine,' she added.
'It's important for us to remove the stigma around mental health because it's something that affects every single one of us. It's normal and natural, feeling anxious or going through periods where you’re down and depressed or struggling - that’s life. Everybody will have times when they’re great and everybody will have times when they’re not great and need help. It’s not something that’s unique to one person, everybody goes through it, it doesn’t matter if you’re a celebrity, an athlete, a singer or a school teacher.'
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Dina Asher Smith is a Müller Corner Ambassador. The brand NEW Müller Corner Creations Pretzel Party with caramel yogurt and the mixture of pretzel pieces, milk chocolate coated pretzel and dark chocolate coated biscuit balls is the most exciting Corner ever.