Figure 1 Sports can strengthen your heart and your bones
Not everyone has happy memories of playing sports. You may be one of the lucky ones who represented your school and enjoyed sports. But there are plenty of others who still shudder at the thought and have actively avoided getting involved since being forced to as a child.
But the thing is – playing some kind of sports is good for you. You don’t have to have ambitions of playing at any kind of level or even understanding basic terms and types of bets, like a round robin wager. But getting up and active has all kinds of benefits and you should really think about doing something – you might even enjoy it!
There are more obesity and health problems in this country than ever before, so we thought we would get together some of the best reasons why you should give sports another go. There are countless benefits and we promise that you will feel better about yourself – and not have flashbacks to school any more.
Improved Mood
Many people will put off doing some exercise or playing sports because they “are not in the mood”. But physical activity has been proven to enhance your mood. After playing sports most people will report feeling calmer, more awake, and more content. It doesn’t even matter whether you win or lose.
As with all the benefits that we are going to cover here, enhancing your mood will have a knock-on effect on your life. Being in a better mood will naturally make you feel like doing other things that make you feel better. Once you get into that cycle, you won’t even be thinking about how you are feeling better.
Better Sleep
There is much more to this than just collapsing into sleep because you have done some exercise. We are talking about a better night’s sleep, as well as the fact of getting more hours. If the activity takes place outside, the fresh air is likely to help you sleep better. But that’s just the start.
Once you have started playing sports regularly, you will notice that you are not only getting to sleep more quickly than before but that you are also getting a better quality of sleep. We need to sleep well for our bodies to recharge every night, so making sure that sleep is the best we can have is crucially important.
Better Blood Circulation
Playing a sport means that you are actively participating in something and increasing the flow of blood around your body. That means that your heart has to work harder – and that means that you are strengthening your heart. The exercise you are giving your heart will benefit your life.
A stronger heart will contribute to the overall improved health of your body and increasing your blood circulation means that your body is performing better. You don’t necessarily have to be giving it everything you’ve got for this to happen either. Just be active and your body will thank you.
Stronger Bones
Obviously, playing any kind of active sports opens you up to the risk of injury. But as long as you are sensible about how much you are doing and how quickly you advance, your body will be able to cope. Alongside improving blood circulation, sports can help strengthen bones.
By playing sports you will be putting extra stress on your muscles and your bones. This additional movement and stress on your bones will force them to adapt and become able to deal with the activity. Bone density naturally reduces with age, so playing sports is a good way of combatting that sign of ageing.
Reduces Stress
If you have watched sports fans – or even some players – you may be wondering whether this kind of activity does actually reduce stress at all. From the outside, it looks as though sports only increases stress levels. But a relaxed and controlled approach to sports should benefit you here.
The physical activity of playing sports will be able to reduce stress hormones in your body and stimulate the release of endorphins. Endorphins not only reduce the feeling of pain or stress but also improve our feeling of wellbeing. That then allows us to become more focused on life in general.
Figure 2 Exercise releases endorphins that reduce stress
Improved Mental Health
That last factor leads on to this one. We are now fortunate to be living in a time when there is not as much of a stigma about being concerned with our mental health. It is by no means perfect but people are more relaxed about admitting their mental health issues than they were even just ten years ago.
Regular physical activity and participation in sports can have an effect on our mental health as well as improve our mood. The reduction of stress is just one part of improving our mental health and you could find that sports is able to reduce anxiety or the chance of becoming depressed.
Stronger Relationships
At a younger age, sports can be useful for teaching children about teamwork and leadership. But even as we get older, there are numerous ways that we can benefit from playing sports and other physical activities. For some, it may just be able to give you the chance to form and maintain relationships.
By playing sports regularly with other people we can forge relationships and build wider networks. We can learn a lot about ourselves and also discover the personality traits and characteristics of other people by all coming together through sports. All of these aspects of sports can improve our health – both physical and mental – and ultimately do us all the world of good.
