Hey there sports fans! Today I wanted to chat about the many virtues of playing sports as a factor towards an enhanced way of life. Before I dive in, I wanted to acknowledge that this is a personal blog and based on my own personal experiences and research. I am not a qualified doctor, physiotherapist or sporting professional in any capacity, just an avid lover of sports and an enthusiast so please make sure to contact a health professional if you have any health or sport related questions.
Physical Health and Overall Fitness
I’ll begin with the most obvious reason - your health is your wealth! As someone who plays team sports at an amateur level, there are numerous ways that I’ve benefited from this personally which I think readers of this blog would also benefit from. Although you can burn the same calories in a gym over the years, I’ve experienced much greater benefits partaking in sports than just joining a gym. A Gaelic Football training session can burn up to 600 calories in 60 minutes, increasing your resting heart rate, whilst also vastly improving your psychological mood. No matter what sport or activity you choose, simply moving your body and getting active for at least 30 minutes twice a week can help maintain and control body fat and weight, improve stamina, strengthen bones and, of course, improve your skill level in your chosen sport. Partaking in sports can also have many knock-on benefits by introducing you to new methods of maintaining your health and fitness. Proper nutrition is a primary example of this. your sports coach will more than likely introduce you to tailored or sports specific dietary plans to help you reach maximum performance with maximum fitness levels as a by-product. This may seem extravagant at first, but from my own experiences, when results start to show, it becomes an addiction.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Aside from benefiting your physical health, sport can also contribute to more positive mental health and wellbeing. Whether it be a team or individual sport, participation is shown to improve self-esteem and self-confidence while also reducing depression and anxiety. We’ve all been a victim of the demons in our head at some stage of our lives due to numerous reasons, which many of us have found different ways of dealing with. From my own personal experience, I am more affected by such pressure and anxiety as exam season creeps closer. The pressure a final year student is put under is immense, which can often result in our mental health deteriorating. Playing sport allows me to deal with this in a positive way. It provides a relief for when studying gets overwhelming. All of us have experienced the pressure and anxiety of college build up over time and weigh you down. This is where sport saves the day. It provides a stress relief for when things are getting a bit too much, allowing me to release all my negative energy in a positive way, by playing football. I feel the more pressure I’m under from college, the more focused and driven I am when playing football, which allows me to return to studying which a clear head, and free from negative energy and thoughts.
As I mentioned earlier, playing sports has a great impact on psychological mood due to the release of endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals released by the brain that reduce your perception of pain and are considered to be “natural painkillers” due to their increase in feelings of well-being.
Enhancing Professional Skills
The social aspect of sport is a very important factor for many of us. Sports allows us to develop many of our social and professional skills by meeting new people, becoming part of a team and working together to achieve common goals. This allows us to improve on skills such as teamwork, communication, leadership, pressure management and commitment. Whether it be a college presentation, a public speaking event, or even a meeting in work, we all feel we could improve our skills more for such events, and no better way to do so than engaging in team sports.
Achieving your goals
Whether you play sports competitively or just for fun, everyone has a goal they wish to achieve through sport. Setting goals can allow you to have a clear understanding of the achievement you desire and can also help you become more disciplined in your every-day life. For example, by setting myself the goal of winning the championship with my GAA club this year, I will have to be more self-disciplined in my actions in terms of healthy eating, getting enough sleep, rarely drinking alcohol and balancing my study schedule in order to make time for training. All these factors will hopefully bring me closer to achieving my long-term goal, however, they will also contribute to a healthier every-day lifestyle.