HOW CLIMBING SUPPORTS MENTAL HEALTH

Have you ever stepped off the wall feeling lighter – not just in your body, but in your mind?
Maybe your thoughts had been heavy going in, tangled in stress or sadness, but after climbing, something shifted. You felt more focused, more present. Was it just the movement, or is there more going on?

A recent scoping review brings us closer to answering this question by exploring how climbing affects mental health, drawing on 51 studies – 20 therapeutic interventions and 31 experimental designs (Hall, Ionel, Gude, Trasca, Murray & Gridley, 2023).

The short answer? For many, climbing does help. And for some, it helps a lot.

Climbing as therapy: What do we know?

Twenty studies looked at climbing as a therapeutic intervention, mainly for adults, across a wide range of settings—from mental health clinics to hospitals to university gyms. Most were small in scale (average sample size: 57) but varied in populations: individuals with depression, bipolar disorder, physical health issues like haemophilia or cancer, and even children with cerebral palsy or young people in psychiatric care.

And what did they find?
In 14 of the 20 studies, climbing interventions led to significant improvements in things like:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Emotional wellbeing

• Mindfulness

• Overall quality of life

One standout: Five high-quality studies used something called Bouldering Psychotherapy (BPT) – structured weekly sessions that combined climbing with mindfulness, psychoeducation, and problem-solving. All five showed clear, measurable improvements in depression symptoms.

Even a single climbing session showed benefits:
One study found that just one climb helped boost mood and reduce negative emotions in adolescents in a mental health unit (Frühauf et al., 2021). Another saw decreased depressive symptoms in adults after a single session (Kleinstäuber et al., 2017).

This doesn't mean climbing is a magic fix. Some interventions showed non-significant changes. And many were small, lacked control groups, or had short follow-ups. Still, the emerging picture is hopeful: Climbing can support mental health – and sometimes profoundly.

What about everyday climbers?

Not all the studies focused on clinical populations. Some involved university students or recreational climbers. These also showed encouraging signs:

• climbing reduced state anxiety

• increased mindfulness, and

• improved mood – especially when measured after a session.

One nuance: anxiety tended to spike during climbing, especially in new climbers or in more demanding situations (Özen et al., 2018). But that’s not necessarily bad. It might mean that climbing is an opportunity to experience and regulate emotions in a challenging, supportive context – a key part of how therapy works.

What triggers anxiety in climbers?

In the 31 experimental studies, researchers looked at experienced climbers and how things like lead vs. top-rope, onsight vs. redpoint, and route difficulty affected anxiety. Here’s what stood out:

• On-sighting created more anxiety than redpointing

• Leading made climbers more anxious and less confident than top-roping

• Harder routes raised anxiety, no matter the style

These findings are consistent with what many of us feel intuitively: Climbing pushes us out our comfort zones, and that’s part of its power. The wall becomes a mirror for our internal landscape.

What does this mean for us?

If you climb regularly, you have probably already experienced the benefits of climbing on your mental health. However, this research gives that gut feeling some scientific weight.

More importantly, it shows how climbing can be intentionally used to support mental health: not just for stress relief, but as a structured (therapeutic) approach. Whether it’s through bouldering psychotherapy or mindful climbing sessions, the wall offers a space where emotions, movement, and growth intersect.

So the next time you’re at the gym or on a crag, ask yourself:

What am I practicing on this route – beyond the moves?