Open Educational Literature: The Link Between Sports and Mental Health

May 19, 2022 by Staff

People doing sports on a regular basis notice that exercise affects their psychological condition. And no wonder why! It’s a well-known fact that there is a link between physical activity and mental health. If you want to learn more about it, you can do deep research on this topic. But the question is: what sources to use? Let’s discuss it below.

Open educational literature

Today, we have free and fast access to tons of information. The Internet is overloaded with blogs, journals and videos on a variety of topics. However, not all of them are reliable. And it’s really difficult to distinguish between good and bad ones. Some web resources gain popularity even despite poor content quality.

That’s why you should give preference to academic resources, like online libraries and science magazines. You can also check websites similar to Eduzaurus, which is a learning resource for college students. You can find a lot of helpful information for yourself there. Eduzaurus also has assignment writing samples, so you can even find an A+ depression essay samples to read or download a sample research paper. No matter what topic you are interested in, always use credible websites like Eduzaurus to study them.

The link between sports and mental health

We all know that sports offer a lot of benefits to the body and mind. However, it also has some drawbacks for both. Let’s consider the link between sports and mental health from different perspectives.

How sports improve your mental health

Better mood

Doing some physical activity every day can help you forget about all the worries. By playing golf, skiing or any other sport, you can clear your mind and calm down. Did you notice how great you feel for the next few hours after having just 20-30 minutes of exercise? Basically, physical activity elevates mood and makes us more peaceful.

Less stress

Did you know that nearly 75-90% of all visits to a doctor are caused by stress-related illnesses. But luckily, you can avoid them by doing some regular physical activity. Exercise is a great tool for managing stress. When you move your body, the endorphins are released, which are brain chemicals that relieve stress. By the way, endorphins reduce the amount of cortisol and adrenaline, so-called stress hormones.

No addiction

Unfortunately, many people struggle with different forms of addiction nowadays. Some are dependent on smoking or gaming, while others on alcohol or even drugs. But no matter what kind of addiction one has, sports help to fight it. According to some Norwegian studies, teenagers who play in team sports are less likely to smoke cigarettes. Another research conducted in Korea revealed that sports help teens combat internet addiction. However, even if you are already addicted to something, this addiction can be diminished by daily exercise.

Help with depression

Depression is another common mental health issue today. The statistics on this disorder is really frightening. It’s even viewed as another world pandemic. There are different approaches to treating depression and their effectiveness varies from one person to another. But what works for everybody is sports. Psychologists say that physical activity helps treat depression. According to some studies, sport activities do not only reduce the symptoms of depression but also reduce the risk of relapse. In one study, exercise was even found as effective as antidepressants.

Negative effects of sports

Unfortunately, sports also have some negative effects on your mental health. Especially for advanced athletes who play at national or professional levels.

Tension

Sports can do both: relieve and create stress. For example, if you are playing in a local college team, your coaches may push you too hard. And sometimes, athletes just place pressure on themselves to perform well. Naturally, this leads to increased psychological tension and burnout. And as a result, sports performance worsens despite intense training sessions.

Eating disorders

One of the most common mental health problems among athletes is eating disorders. It happens especially often in sports where the body weight affects performance. For example, people who do gymnastics, ski jumping and long-distance running may have anorexia or bulimia. Those are serious disorders that occur because sports people feel pressured by the idea of having a perfect body shape.

Final thoughts

Sport has numerous psychological benefits but it also brings some problems if done unwise. For example, getting physical exercise is a healthy way to combat stress but at the same time it may cause stress. So if you want to stay mentally and physically fit, you must carefully control the intensity of your training.