With how much the mind is involved playing sports, mental health and sports are closely related. We know that sports have the ability to improve fitness and physical health. However, sports are even more impactful when it comes to mental health.
Our current age society is facing a mental health crisis, and taking care of your mental health has never been more important. Our society today is one that includes COVID 19, social media, technology, “fake news” and conflicting information. With all of the stressors in modern society, it is no wonder that mental health issues are on the rise.
Below are some of the many benefits that playing sports provides to your mental health.
Relieves Stress
The biggest contributor to mental health issues is stress itself. Exercise through sports has the ability to relieve stress by reducing the stress hormones your body produces. Along with reducing hormones that cause stress, playing sports also increases endorphins which helps to improve our mood. Aside from the physical aspects of playing sports, the social aspects of sports also helps to reduce stress. Interacting with new people can be hard in everyday life, but sports practically forces you to do so. Research has also shown that those with high levels of social support are able to manage stress better. When you participate in organized sports, you are building your social support network by making friends, teammates, coaches and others that will help to build you up.
Improves Sleep
Sleep is heavily tied to mental well being. Those that don’t get enough sleep or get poor quality sleep tend to suffer more from mental issues. For example, lack of sleep can lead to bad moods and irritability due to the inability to repress emotional reactivity when sleep deprived. Exercise through sports helps to improve sleep in many ways. For one, stress and anxiety are a common reason why people have trouble falling asleep, and exercise helps to relieve both. Sports also tires us out both physically and mentally which makes our bodies crave rest.
Improves Cognitive Skills
Sports help you to stay laser sharp. Playing competitive sports requires a tremendous amount of concentration and focus. They require you to react and make quick decisions which helps improve your critical thinking skills. If you are someone that is easily distracted in everyday life, playing sports will force you to focus on what you’re doing. The focus obtained from playing sports can then translate into your everyday life.
Enhances Self Esteem
Participating in sports can help boost your self esteem. In sports you are constantly achieving and reaching new heights. Every time you win or score points/goals then that helps validate you and increase your confidence in life. Making progress by improving and becoming a better player is also an incredibly rewarding experience and it teaches you that hard work does in fact pay off.
Instils Discipline
Playing sports helps teach discipline as you have to regularly practice your sport in order to excel. The discipline that you learn from training at your sport can then help you stay disciplined when it comes to protecting and preserving your mental health. Keeping your mind healthy requires discipline the same way keeping your body does. Learning discipline through sports can make you disciplined enough to put the effort into exercising regularly, eating well, getting enough sleep, reaching out to others (etc). All of which is beneficial to your mental health.
Register for TAC Sports
We believe in the power of sports to create and maintain both a healthy mind and body. Our camps are designed to not only teach kids about sports, but to teach kids valuable life skills through them. To learn more about our programming, click on the button below.
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