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"I'm definitely an introvert-Ireally like to not talk to anyone!"
Psychologies UK
|June 2025
Jo Whiley talks to Lauren Taylor about swimming and gardening for her wellbeing - and why she needs to keep quiet sometimes
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BBC Radio 2 presenter Jo Whiley swears by swimming to help balance her mental health, saying sometimes it 'feels like a baptism'.
The presenter, whose radio career spans more than 30 years, says: 'If I'm feeling not in the best mood, if I'm anxious about something or if I just want to feel happier, then I'll head to my swimming pool and do 40 lengths.
'When I come out everything will have changed. My headspace will be completely different.'
Wild swimming - taking a dip in the sea, lakes and rivers, sometimes in very cold water - is also part of the 59-year-old's routine. 'It's that rush you get after you've been in the water when you've been in freezing temperatures,' says Whiley, who first joined BBC Radio 1 in 1993 and currently hosts her own show on BBC Radio 2 every weekday evening. 'It's really energising and life-affirming.'
It attracts a 'really lovely community of like-minded souls' too, she adds. Although the temperatures can be intense. 'I [would be] standing there screaming, “It's really hurting!”
'It's two minutes of pain, your nerves and all the blood rushing awake. But it's a great feeling.'
This story is from the June 2025 edition of Psychologies UK.
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