Mental Disorders: The Impact Of Sports On Mental Health

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

Many people argue that competitive sports raise numerous amounts of pressure on the youth making them distracted from things such as their education and because it can cause severe injuries, but some people argue that youth should play competitive sports because it teaches major life lessons that can help with many different aspects of their future such as college, getting a job, and many more. Playing competitive sports also improves your physical strength, another physical aspect of playing competitive sports is decreasing your chance of being obese or having disease. If you don't prefer to play competitive sports there are alternative options such as biking or walking to school. In an HT Health article “Sports Seen As Key Weapon in Fighting Teen Obesity” it says that in a study with 1,700 kids, ten percent walked or biked to school 3 ½ days a week,, in the study they found that biking or walking to school lowered the risk of being obese by 33%. I argue that kids should play competitive sports because of the important life skills taught through these sports and the physical benefit of playing sports. In this paper I will explain how communication, time management, and lowering the risk of being obese; supports my claim, “Kids should play competitive sports”

Sports are something that everyone in the world, regardless of age, sex, or nationality, can enjoy. Whether it's a child playing in his first t-ball game or a professional athlete swimming in the Olympics and everyone in between, sports can connect almost everyone. Fan support and overall devotion for athletic competition has raised professional athletes to superstars and national icons; Super Bowl Sunday is a national holiday to some, and sports are one of the largest moneymakers in the economy.

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.

There are a great variety of sports all throughout the world, but the most popular worldwide are: Futbol, Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, Track, Bicycle, etc… One of the advantages of playing sports is that you get healthier as you play and have fun. Also you get more social skills, and so it could help fight depression or anxiety. Sports use more math than you may think. For example all the averages in Basketball, or

An issue that is hotly debated is, should kids play competitive sports or not. It’s clear that the overall people feel that competitive sports are good for kids. Competitive sports teaches kids life lessons, makes them more responsible and teaches them healthy habits. Millions of American children and teenagers are overweight. This obesity epidemic has made the early onset of health problems such as diabetes, are more common. Over forty millions of boys and girls were participating in organized competitive sports in 2008, and this will help bring down the obesity rate.

Sports are a popular pastime among all ages and types of people. People not only participate in them for fun, but also for money, physical fitness, rush of competition, and for many other personal reasons. Playing sports is especially common among young people in schools. Athletics are great and enjoyable for many reasons, but there can be a point where sports participation can go too far and become negative for children and adults. Sports specialization for young people is an increasing trend that results in sports having a negative impact on individuals and society.

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.

In America, people are so concerned for the mental health of their football players, that other sports, like hockey, go unchecked in the mental health department. The idea that one physical sport is more dangerous than another is not something that people should humor. Every physical activity has a level of danger. Ignoring the possibility of injury in one sport while bringing to light injuries of another is misleading and causes a lack of concern in the sport that is being hidden. The sports organizations involved should not be ignoring the issues, sweeping the concern of others away as if shooing at a fly. Something needs to be done about the ignorance of the people. Something needs to be started so that both sports have the chance to make their games safer and better for every single person that decides to follow their dreams of playing in either the NFL or NHL.

Playing sports is a great way to help with mental health. When students don't have the option of playing sports it can lead to, “...too much screen time and not enough hands on activity,” (“Play is Important”). Many studies have recently exhibited citing the risk of excessive screen time for developing brains, everything from socialization, concentration, speech and writing skills can all be studied. The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that children in America spend a gargantuan amount of time looking at electronic devices, approximately seven hours a day. If sports were no longer available for children to participate in, the average amount of hours spent on electronics would be increased. Other statistics reveal that kids the age of two regularly play iPad games and have toys in their bedroom that involve touch screens. Getting out the house is a good way to stay healthy and “...Exercise can help reduce depression and anxiety,”(Carson Barrett, “How Does Playing Sports Affect Your Health?”). For many kids in middle school, the need to have perfect grades causes many of them to have anxiety. Many families have younger children that have to deal with deaths and having to deal with a loss can be a main trigger to depression. If those kids were taken away from the opportunity to play sports, the anxiety and depression would most likely increase. Sleep is a big factor of mental health; and being active by participating in sports can increase the amount of sleep children get. Sports “...do this by helping you fall asleep faster and deepening your sleep,”(Kathryn Watson, “The Top 7 Mental Benefits of Sports”). When children come home from a sport, most of the time, their exhausted which would lead to a more reparative sleep, allowing the brain and muscles to rehabilitate more thoroughly. Getting a good amount of sleep can improve your mental outlook and mood the

Sports are very vital. They offer a lifestyle, an occupation, and even a dream. Sports require physical activity and skill in which a team or an individual compete against others for entertainment. As David G. McComb comments in "Sports in World History", "there is a high degree of training, investment, and coaching, along with spectators, rules, publicity, and institutional control that come along with these activities." While participating in sports, it is required to be able to undertake a difficult situation and perform the best out of it. Sports are definitely more than just a game.

Sport plays a huge role in today’s society. It contributes to one’s health and fitness, social interaction, social and motor skills, patriotism, fun and entertainment. It also stimulates the economy and tourism leading to interaction between different cultures, for example the Olympics, and sport role models. Sports clearly are an important part of cultures and societies around the world as such events as the Olympics

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

High school sports also has a benefit to an athlete's physical health. Today’s teens are exposed to a great amount of entertainment avenues such as television, video games, and other media devices. These things allow teens to be lazy. Young people generally get less physical activity as they get older. By being physically active it can help prevent obesity. The experience of sports, exercise, and kinesthetic activities helps boost teens’ bodies. Involvement in sporting activities keeps teens moving and and keeps them engaged physically which is vital for their overall health and

“Sports are for fun, but they also offer benefits and lessons that carry over into all aspects of life”. This well-known anonymous quotation conveys the message that sport is the game which has some rules and custom. It is not only for fun and entertainment, but there are also some benefits of playing sports and which gives some important lessons for life. Every kind of physical sports is healthy because it involves running, jumping, stretching, mind skills and much more. There are so many sports available in the world nowadays, but we can categorize them by the numbers of players, the three main categories are individual sport, dual sport and team sport.