Sports are very interesting, so interesting that we spend our days watching sports, analyzing matches, cheering for athletes and teams and often, getting angry and frustrated when our favorite and athletes fail to do what is obvious and win a point or match.

From a spectator’s point of view, sports can be thrilling and also frustrating. However, from the perspective of the person who is playing sports, it is much better. When you participate in sports, you get much more pleasant feelings, which are far from the frustration that people expect from sports nowadays, particularly fans.

Here is how sports affect mental health and how you could benefit from practicing sports.

Confidence Growth

Confidence grows through practice and actually committing to facing your fears and doing something about them. Sports is all about confrontation. You are directly competing not against one person, but multiple people and always against yourself. Every single time you win a point or a match, you win not only against your opponent, but also against yourself, which is probably the best kind of win.

However, participation and competing is worth a lot more than winning. Just playing sports and competing is enough to give you a solid confidence boost. Practice sports regularly and you shouldn’t have any problems facing your fears.

Dealing With Depression Symptoms

Sports can help alleviate symptoms of depression. In this regard, sports are really good, helping us overcome symptoms of depression. This happens because of hormones, namely endorphins, which work as opioids, but a natural kind, which don’t cause addictive behavior.

Yes, some people might get addicted to working out and sports, but that is for all the right reasons. You always feel better after a good workout, more motivated and less nervous. Sports can get you moving. A couple of weeks of barely working out usually turns into months of “can’t wait to go outside and work out/play sports”.

Less Stress

Sports versus stress relief, a tale as old as time. The more you train, the less stressful you will be. The same goes for sports, and they can work even better than working out. Sports have a social aspect to them, which often helps with stress, mostly because of other people. You will most likely know the people you are playing against. A light-hearted conversation, some jokes and pre-match banter and you will come out after your sports session, feeling a lot better and less stressed. 

Better Relationships

Sports are great for building relationships with people. Meeting new people is easy when you play sports. You have a common topic and you engage in that topic, albeit physically. Naturally, conversation comes after a good match and people tend to exchange information and keep hanging out even after meeting for the first time at a sports event.

Sports are great for social interaction, much better than social media, as they actually help with social anxiety.

Sports are great for our mental health and these are some of the ways they affect us positively. Add sports to your weekly schedule and enjoy.