Health Behavior In College Sports

In the article, Class and Cleats: Community College Student Athletes and Academic Success, Horton first examines the statistics of evidence showing college athletes and their underachievement. There are many instances of concern about college athletes and their poor grades having an affect of their athletic responsibilities, though this belief is usually denied due to a student always being a student before anything else. This study researches the idea of the way that college students and college athletes view success. Many college athletes tend to state that success is passing all courses and being more successful in their sport, rather than academics coming first (Horton, 2009).

College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.

Before exploring the health of an athlete its important to understand what mental health is. Mental health is characterised by emotional wellbeing and resilience to stress (ClearingHouseForSport Australian Government Ralph Richards 9th June 2016). Mentally healthy individuals are able to cope with daily stresses and fully participate in family, work and in this case sport activities. A mental disorder is a diagnosable illness that affects a persons thinking, emotional state and behaviour and disrupts his/her ability to carry out normal daily activities and maintain personal relationships. Exercise has many benefits, not only for physical health but also your mental health as well. In the brain, exercise stimulates chemicals that improve an

The negative impact mental health has had on student-athletes is a continuous problem across the globe and has been a topic of interest in the research world for many years. The stigma behind mental health have lead to symptoms of depression and anxiety, reluctance to seek help, the sense of helplessness and loneliness and many more. In a student-athlete, these stress levels are brought upon the individual for multiple reasons. For example, student-athletes have to accomplish a certain degree of success both on the playing field and in the classroom (A.P. , Deitrick, J.M. , & Reynolds, E. (2016). Maintaining a required average and playing time can become not only physically but mentally exhausting. This literature review will discuss the barriers and facilitators to mental health in student-athletes and how the stigmatization of those student-athletes who suffer from a mental illness have an impact on their everyday life.

The impact of preserving sports in high schools has been surrounded by much controversy as people suspect that it is the reason behind the poor academic achievement of students. Opponents to high school sports feel that allowing athletics to be a part of schools sidetracks the focus of the student body, which goes completely against the main purpose of schools. Indeed, this assertion is completely true and based upon plentiful evidence. High school sports undoubtedly come at the expense of student academic achievement since they divert the attention of students away from academics and they come with far too many financial costs, both of which incur negative impacts on the academics within a school. The bottomline is that sports are harming the education of students, so a school must make the decision between composing quality sports teams or providing high level academics; both of these choices simply cannot occur simultaneously.

Depression is a mental health disorder that interferes with the physical and psychological well-being of an individual. ‘About 1 in 5 adults have a mental illness in any given year. Mental illness can begin at any age, from childhood through to later adult years, but most begin in teen life.’ (Staff, n.d.) The stress of school and the expectation that parents have for their children is high. This can put a lot of pressure on students, it can effect their everday life, work and relationships. These issues can also heavily affect adults too. Its hard enough as it is for everday people to deal with depression but when you’re an elite athlete this can be a real problem. Athletes are at risk for depression as they’re in high pressure sporting events, there’s also personal and team expectations. Individual disposition may increase bouts of mental health issues in athletes. Also the media has a big influence in the lives of athletes and can be brutal to an athlete.

A concussion is defined as “a complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by traumatic biomechanical forces” (McCrory, Johnston, & Meeuwisse, 2005). Based on current research, findings show a relationship between academic performance and student athletes suffering from post concussion symptoms (Baker et al., 2015; Ransom et al., 2015; Swanson et al., 2017; Wasserman, Bazarian, Mapstone, Block, & Wijngaarden, 2016). More specifically, researchers have found that concussed student athletes had difficulty returning back to the classroom. Surprisingly, some reported having problems with vision and the severity of the concussion also effected

Nutrition is an important complement of any physical fitness program. The main dietary goal for active individual is to obtain adequate nutrition to optimize health and fitness or sports performance.

Many studies have been done to find the benefits of athletics in high school students in years past, but a more significant topic presently is the effect that it has on suicide prevention. Being a part of a team gives social connections to students that they can lean on for anything they might need. Whether it be for physical or emotional needs. Both teammates and coaches give moral support to each other during both in and out of season. (Benefits of Sports) For ages 10-24 and 12-18, suicide is the second preeminent cause of death in adolescents. (Youth Suicide) A study was done by a group of people to analyze the correlation between athletic participation and suicidal tendencies. The data used is based on the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey,

How can alcohol influence someone at a college football game? Does alcohol give someone a good reputation or regrets? Alcohol can make you act a certain way. Football games should be fun and enjoyable to watch without trying. In my opinion, alcohol at college football games can cause bad decisions, foul language, and effects on others to and from.

For High Performance athletes, there can be a lot riding on their results and performance in competition. If athletes develop an over-reliance on sporting success as a source of self-worth and identity, it can lead to serious emotional issues if things do not go as desired. Athletes often identify their self-worth with their ability to perform, and performance failure has been significantly associated with depression (Taylor, 2015 pg.11; Troijan, 2016, pg. 137) Athletes face many struggles and when something goes wrong it can leave them not knowing where to turn for help. They can be left with they feelings that they are nothing, undeserving, and alone. This may also exacerbate their feelings of seclusion, depression, or grief. Most athletes

To begin with, studies have shown that a person who identifies themselves as a sports fan are less likely to have lower rates of depression and higher self-esteem than those who do not. Sports fandom is a phenomenon that can help make our psychological need to belong in the world and provide similar benefits to the social support accomplished through religious, professional, and other affiliations. Having extra backup such as social support is highly responsible for keeping people mentally sound. For example, march madness; gives

The correlation of playing competitive sports at college level and self esteem are measured. Subjects were given the Barksdale self esteem questionnaire to fill out and levels of self esteem are measured by scores out of one hundred. The subjects are then separated into categories determined by gender and whether they played sports at the college level. The results indicated that the elite athletes have a higher self esteem than non athletes. The survey also revealed that women have a slightly higher self esteem than men. These findings agree with our hypothesis that athletes will have a higher level of self esteem than non athletes will.

According to research and statistics, alcohol is the number one drug used by college students. Most individuals do not label alcohol as a drug due to the way it is consumed, but when considering the negative side effects that accompany alcohol, the comparison of alcohol to drugs may not be that far of a stretch. Alcohol can not only be harmful to an individual’s external health but also their internal health as well. Consumption of alcohol over a long period of time may result in negative side effects to your heart, liver, pancreas, immune system, and ultimately if enough is consumed may result in cancer. This addicting, yet dangerous drug is best known for its ability

Physical fitness is vital for many college athletes. Things like muscle strength, muscular endurance, anaerobic, and aerobic power are crucial to success of the athlete's performance. The vital physical fitness of the athletes is to increase training sessions before the season and during season. Some of these training session that college athletes participate in can lead to an increase in stress on certain muscles. These muscles weaken over time due to the athlete not giving a proper time to recover from training and playing. The most common injury for athletes are knee injuries. Some of the most common, but are not limited to, include ACL, MCL, patellofemoral pain, and strains. Knee braces are the most common way of helping reduce knee pain and prevent any further damage to the joint. Though helpful knee braces can sometimes be uncomfortable, are not always supportive enough, and are bulky. Due to these inconveniences, many athletes are turning to other alternative like Kinesio tape (K-tape). Kinesio tape has been used for many years and has helped many famous athletes like Kerri Walsh Jennings, James Harden with their pain. Now it is more common for athletes in high schools and colleges to use Kinesio tape because of its effectiveness and easy application and removal. Kinesio tape and knee braces have been under debate recently on which one would be more effective to use during physical activity.