Isle of Man stick supply at risk as men's mental health walks grow
A new Isle of Man charity using the outdoors to support men's mental health has exposed a graver threat: the island's limited supply of good sticks.
"...and the second he found a decent stick, he started talking," said one walk leader, describing a Sunday outing on the Isle of Man.
A new charity there is using outdoor activity to improve men's mental health, BBC News reports. Men walk. Men talk. Men feel better. This is a real advance, and I will not spend any more time on it.
My study looked at the stick. I followed nine men on nine walks. Every one of them said how he was really doing. Every one of them was holding a stick when he said it. A control group was given no sticks. A control group is the people you leave out on purpose. They spent three hours on the ferry timetable and whether it might rain.
Nine men is a small sample. A small sample means I cannot be certain. I am certain enough to have stopped sleeping.
The island has a fixed number of good sticks. A good stick is about the length of an arm and nice to lean on. If the charity keeps growing, demand will outrun the trees.
"We may have nine winters of sticks left," I told the walk leader.
He picked up a stick before he answered. Then he asked if he could keep it.
The implications are, frankly, terrifying.
