The Role of Sports in Mental Health
Sport is an essential part of our life. Sports has many benefits and these benefits go beyond developing physical agility and strength. Therefore, sports not only give you physical benefits, but also ensure the development of your personality. The endorphins released by sports activities has many benefits on our mental and psychological health. That’s why, it is essential to make sure that children from a very young age start playing sports or start doing different physical activities. The influence of Sports since a very early period in their life will help them have more confidence, it will improve their alertness and reduce their overall tension. Sports, helps the child to cope up with stress effectively and improve their critical thinking and judgment.
We are all aware about the mental and cognitive health benefits of Sports, therefore, we must try to encourage everyone to engage in playing Sports and doing physical activities. Sports improves our psychological health in different ways, today we are going to look at how effective the influence of Sports is in improving our mental health.
Benefits of Sports in Adolescence-
As we mentioned above, we must ensure that children engage in Sports since a very early age. We will notice important benefits of the same in children; it is a proven fact that children who spent more time playing Sports coped with stress and anger issues more effectively than those who didn’t. Sports also imparts the skills of team-work and increases the self esteem of the kids.
Schools, can play an important role in encouraging the students to take up Sports since an early age. Children who are in their school sports team feels more confident about themselves, they also develop essential values of community. School sports encourages more and more young people to associate themselves with Sports. In an assessment, children who plays Sports felt less lonely and depressed than those who didn’t. Therefore, playing sports in adolescent years is highly linked to having proper mental health, lower depression and lower stress symptoms. Sports also sharpens our mind, therefore, adolescence who plays Sports have higher concentration level and better learning coping strategies.
How Sports is Helpful in improving Teen Mental Health?
When we are playing Sports, many chemicals are released in our body which impacts our body and mental wellbeing positively. When we are playing Sports positively every day, our body releases serotonin which improves and regulates our mental health. On top of it, endorphins are released which makes us joyful and happy. This, in returns, makes our stress hormones to go down and therefore regulates our cognitive imbalances.
Teens day to day activities include rigorously studying and attending classes in school, therefore, they spend really less time outdoors. Sitting inside a closed room for many hours might disrupt their mental peace, that’s why, physical activities and Sports are to be made essential part of their lives. Sports can also be seen as a getaway from their daily hassles, it makes them forget everything and allows them be connected with nature. Playing Sports can immensely improve the mood of the teens, and fill their mind with positive thoughts. Sports absorbs all of their attention, and helps them to distract their mind from negative and stressful thoughts, this also improves their performance in other fields. Playing Sports improve their stamina and work efficiency, it also helps them to develop athletic skill. Teens who play sports, feel more confident about their abilities, strength and bodies. Furthermore, Sports and physical activities also improves our sleeping schedule, therefore, teens who play regularly and do physical activities sleep better. Therefore, sleep is essential for regulating our mental health and performance, a good sleep can make the rest of the day more productive as we are more energetic.
Positive changes and significant differences-
Engaging in Sports regularly leads to positive changes and significant differences in respect to our bodies and mental health. Many studies prove how Sports help teens and adults deal with various depressive symptoms. We are all aware how everyone is putting emphasis on physical exercises these days, even counsellors and therapists advise us to add some element of physical exercise in our day to day activities to counteract depression. Many a times, physical activities and Sports are better alternative to anti-depressants or other pills prescribed to us to improve the conditions of our mental health. Moreover, many also prefer to include both pills and physical activities in their day to day lives to get the best benefits.
Therefore, physical activities and Sports has direct positive effects on our psychological and physical health. Doing exercise regularly also ensure that we are physically fit; our body’s health can affect our mood directly, therefore, it is necessary to make sure that we are fit mentally and physically. Sports gives us multiple benefits; therefore, it is important to include Sports as a part of our life.
