Watching your hard work pay off and achieving your goals develops self-confidence. Achieving a sport or fitness goal encourages you to achieve other goals you set. This is a rewarding and exciting learning process.
Exercising is a natural way to loosen up and let go of stress. You can also make new friends who can be there for you as a support system. When you feel under pressure or stressed, call up a teammate, head to the gym to talk and play it out. All rights reserved. DMCA and other copyright information. For website information, contact the Office of Communications.
Physical exercise reduces the stress hormones in your body and stimulates the release of endorphins. These endorphins may give you more energy and focus for whatever life has. The Public Health Agency report that regular participation in sport and being active can also promote good mental health. This includes improving your mood, enhancing your sense of well-being, reducing anxiety, combating negative emotions and protecting against depression. All sport teams need leaders to show the way and help develop new or younger team members.
An emergentics study has found a correlation between playing sports and strong leadership qualities. Sports enables you to build better relationships with people you may be aware of, but not know personally.
Sport with colleagues is a good opportunity to build better relationships and networks that may help you in your job. Children who play sports develop stronger bones and muscles, leading to a smaller chance of physical injury. Physical exercise before the onset of puberty has been identified by a New Zealand study as a way of reaching peak bone mass, enabling children to become stronger — a great foundation for future growth. Tell us what benefits you have experienced through sport using the hashtag GameChangers and be part of the Club Game Changers conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Most popular tags. Get fit Injury Recovery. Lose Weight Improve Performance. Sport for mental health Winter Real time Short on time. Podcasts Coming soon. Advice Stories videos Ambassador. Thank you for the subscribe. Add Your Voice To Ours: what is your name? Is fitness and sports an essential part of your day? Figure 2 depicts the relationship between risk of death and level of physical activity, in a Finnish twin cohort, adjusted for smoking, occupational group, and alcohol consumption [ 59 ].
Odds ratio OR for the risk of all-cause mortality in a larger sample in the same study was 0. This dose—response relationship between risk of all-cause mortality and physical activity is evident in several extensive studies [ 60 , 61 , 62 ].
The total dose is determined by the intensity how strenuous , duration duration , and frequency how often. While Figure 2 shows sex differences in death rates, it is likely that sedentary behavior is equally hazardous for men and women, but inconsistent results sometime occur due to inadequate assessment measures, or low statistical power [ 59 , 63 ].
A physically active population is important for the health of both the individual and society, with sport participation being one, increasingly important, motivator for exercise.
Relative risk odds ratio; OR of premature death in relationship to level of physical activity, in male and female twin pairs, adjusted for smoking, occupational group, and use of alcohol [ 59 ]. For example: A reduction in musculoskeletal disorders and reduced disability due to chronic disease [ 27 , 64 ], better mental health with reduced anxiety [ 65 , 66 ], insomnia [ 67 ], depression [ 31 ], stress [ 68 ], and other psychological disorders [ 69 ].
Physical and mental health problems are related to an increased risk of developing a number of our major public health diseases and may contribute to premature death Table 2. Health-related physiological effects of aerobic and muscle strengthening physical activity. Green circle indicates that the activity contributes with an effect, whereas a red circle indicates that the activity has no proven effect.
Orange circle indicates that the activity may in some cases be effective. The effects of physical activity and exercise are both acute during and immediately after and long-lasting. Effects remaining after a long period of regular physical activity have far-reaching consequences for health and are described below. Other changes remain for months or years even if training ends—for instance, increased number and size of muscle fibers and blood vessels [ 49 , , ].
Good health, therefore, requires physical activity to be performed with both progression and continuity. To describe ill-health, indicators of life expectancy, disease incidence number , and prevalence how often are used [ ]. In describing the relationship between physical activity and falling ill with certain diseases, the dose—response relationship, the effect size the risk reduction that is shown in studies , and the recommended type and dose of physical activity are considered [ ].
Table 3 shows the relative effects of regular physical activity ton the risk of various diseases US Department of Human Services, The greatest health gains are for people who move from completely sedentary to moderately active lifestyles, with health effects seen before measurable improvements in physical performance. Previously, most scientific studies collected data only on aerobic physical activity.
However, resistance exercise also shows promising health mental and physical and disease-prevention effects [ , , , , ]. However, in some cases, more specific recommendations exist, more in depth described by the US Department of Health and Human Service, amongst others [ 62 ]. Muscle-strengthening physical activity has, in contrast to aerobic exercise, been shown to reduce muscle atrophy [ ], risk of falling [ 75 ], and osteoporosis [ 74 ] in the elderly.
Among the elderly, both men and women adapt positively to strength training [ ]. The risk of falling increases markedly with age and is partly a result of reduced muscle mass, and reduced coordination and balance [ 76 , , ].
A strong correlation between physical performance, reduced risk of falls, and enhanced quality of life is therefore, not surprisingly, found in older people [ ]. Deterioration in muscle strength, but not muscle mass, increases the risk of premature death [ ] but can be counteracted by exercise as a dose—response relationship describes the strength improvement in the elderly [ , ].
Muscle strengthening physical activity for better health is recommended as a complement to aerobic physical activity [ 29 ]. Amongst the elderly, vibration training can be an alternative to increase strength [ ]. Mental illness is a global problem affecting millions of people worldwide [ ]. Headache, stress, insomnia, fatigue, and anxiety are all measures of mental ill health. Studies have compared expected health benefits from regular physical activity for improvement of mental health with other treatments, for example, medication.
Most recent studies show that physical activity and exercise used as a primary, or secondary, processing method have significant positive effects in preventing or alleviating depressive symptoms [ 31 , , , , ] and have an antidepressant effect in people with neurological diseases [ ]. Training and exercise improve the quality of life and coping with stress and strengthen self-esteem and social skills [ 69 , ].
Training and exercise also lessen anxiety in people who are diagnosed with an anxiety- or stress-related disease [ 68 ], improve vocabulary learning [ ], memory [ , ], and creative thinking [ ]. The same Swedish data as used in Figure 1 show that between the years — and — anxiety, worry, and insomnia decreased but were not obviously correlated to the slightly increased level of physical activity in the population during the same period.
Thus, in a multifactorial context, the importance of physical exercise alone cannot be demonstrated in this dataset. Some of the suggested physiological explanations for improved mental health with physical activity and exercise are greater perfusion and increased brain volume [ , ], increased volume of the hippocampus [ ], and the anti-inflammatory effects of physical activity, reducing brain inflammation in neurological diseases [ ].
Further, increased release of growth factors, endorphins, and signaling molecules are other exercise-induced enhancers of mental health [ 69 ]. Participants also gain a chance to be part of a community, develop new social circles, and create social norms and attitudes. In healthy individuals, and patients with mental illness, sport participation has been shown to provide individuals with a sense of meaning, identity, and belonging [ , ].
Whether the sport movement exists or not, training and competition including physical activity will happen. Some argue that it is doubtful, or at least not confirmed, that health development can come from sport, while others believe that healthy sport is something other than health, reviewed in depth by Coakley [ ]. In a sporting context, health is defined as subjective e. Holt [ 56 ] argued that the environment for positive development in young people is distinctly different from an environment for performance, as the latter is based on being measured and assessed.
That said, certain skills goal setting, leadership, etc. The best way to transfer these abilities is, at the moment, unclear. Having the goal to win at all costs can be detrimental to health.
This is especially true for children and adolescents, as early engagement in elite sports increases the risk of injury, promotes one-dimensional functional development, leads to overtraining, creates distorted social norms, risks psychosocial disorders, and has the risk of physical and psychological abuse [ 15 , ]. For older people, a strong motivating factor to conduct physical activity is sports club membership [ ].
There, sports can be a resource for good physical and mental health [ ]. Furthermore, the study shows that those active in sport clubs also spontaneously do more sports [ ].
Similar data from the years —, compiled from open sources at The Swedish Sports Confederation, confirm the trend with an even higher share of youths participating in organized sports, compared to and Figure 4.
Spontaneous sport has decreased over the last decades, to the advantage of organized sport. Taking part in sports can be an important motivator for physical activity for older people [ , ]. With aging, both participation in sports Figure 4 and physical activity in everyday life [ ] decreases. At the same time, the number of people who are physically active both in leisure and in organized sports increases The Public Health Agency of Sweden ; www.
Consequently, among elderly people, a greater proportion of the physical activity occurs within the context of sport [ 8 , 28 ]. No matter how you get your sporting interest, it is important to establish a physical foundation at an early age to live in good health when you get older Figure 5.
As seen in Figure 5 , a greater sport habitus at age 15 results in higher physical activity at 53 years of age. Early training and exposure to various forms of sports are therefore of great importance.
Participation creates an identity, setting the stage for a high degree of physical activity later in life [ ]. Odds ratio OR of physical activity at age 53 in relation to Sport habitus at age The effects of participation in organized sports for children and young people are directly linked to physical activity, with long term secondary effects; an active lifestyle at a young age fosters a more active lifestyle as an adult. Early specialization counteracts, in all regards, both health and performance development [ , ].
According to several reviews, there is a correlation between high daily physical activity in children and a low risk for obesity, improved development of motor and cognitive skills, as well as a stronger skeleton [ , ].
Positive effects on lipidemia, blood pressure, oxygen consumption, body composition, metabolic syndrome, bone density and depression, increased muscle strength, and reduced damage to the skeleton and muscles are also described [ , ]. If many aspects are merged in a multidimensional analysis [ 8 , ], the factors important for future good health are shown to be training in sports, broad exposure to different sports, high school grades, cultural capital, and that one takes part in sport throughout childhood Table 4.
Compiled health profiles for men and women at the age of 20 years, depending on participation in organized sports at the age of 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, and 17 years. Classification with repeated latent class analysis creates three groups for girls and boys, respectively: Children who never participated girls only , participated, quit prematurely, or began late only boys in sports.
Arrows indicate whether participation in sports at young age has an effect on health at 20 years of age. Green up arrow is positive, red down arrow negative, and a horizontal black double arrow shows that sport had no significant effect. Modified from Howie et. Psychological benefits of sports participation of young people were compiled by Eime et al.
One problem with most of these studies, though, is that they are cross-sectional studies, which means that no cause—effect relationship can be determined. As there is a bias for participating children towards coming from socially secure environments, the results may be somewhat skewed. As Table 4 and Table 5 show, there are both positive and negative aspects of sports.
There is no scientific evidence that early specialization would have positive impact, neither for health nor for performance later in life [ ]. No model or method including performance at a young age can predict elite performance as an adult. By contrast, specialization and competitiveness can lead to injury, overtraining, increased psychological stress, and reduced training motivation, just to mention a few amongst many negative aspects [ , ].
Another important aspect is that those who are excluded from sports feel mentally worse [ 8 ]. As there is a relationship between depressive episodes in adolescence, and depression as adults [ ], early exclusion has far-reaching consequences. Therefore, sports for children and young people have future health benefits by reducing the risk of developing depression and depressive symptoms, as well as improved wellbeing throughout life.
While some degree of sport specialization is necessary to develop elite-level athletes, research shows clear adverse health effects of early specialization and talent selection [ ]. More children born during the fall and winter September—December are excluded [ ], and as a group, they are less physically active than spring January—April children, both in sports and leisure Figure 6.
In most sports and in most countries, there is a skewed distribution of participants when sorted by birth-date, and there are more spring children than fall children among those who are involved in sport [ , , , , ]. Because a large part of the physical activity takes place in an organized form, this leads to lower levels of physical activity for late-born persons Malm, Jakobsson, and Julin, unpublished data.
Early orientation and training in physical activity and exercise will determine how active you are later in life. Greater attention must be given to stimulating as many children and young people as possible to participate in sport as long as possible, both in school and on their leisure time.
According to statistics from the Swedish Sports Confederation in , this relative-age effect persists throughout life, despite more starting than ending with sport each year [ 18 ]. The figure shows the distribution of children aged 10 years and younger who in were registered as active in one particular, individual sport in Sweden data compiled from the Swedish Sport Confederation, www.
When summarize, the positive and negative aspects of sport at a young age can be divided into three categories: 1 Personal identification, 2 social competence, and 3 physiological capacity, briefly summarized in Table 5. In children and adolescents, it is especially important to prevent sports-related injuries and health problems, as a number of these problems are likely to remain long into adulthood, sometimes for life. Comprehensive training is recommended, which does not necessarily mean that you have to participate in various sports.
What is required is diverse training within every sport and club. Research shows that participation in various sports simultaneously during childhood and adolescence is most favorable for healthy and lifelong participation [ 8 , , , ].
Adults who stop participating in sports reduce their physical activity and have health risks equal to people who have neither done sports nor been physical [ , ]. Lack of adherence to exercise programs is a significant hindrance in achieving health goals and general physical activity recommendations in adults and the elderly [ ]. While several socioeconomic factors are related to exercise adherence, it is imperative that trainers and health care providers are informed about factors that can be modulated, such as intervention intensity not to high , duration not too long , and supervision, important for higher adherence, addressed more in depth by Rivera-Torres, Fahey and Rivera [ ].
Healthy aging is dependent on many factors, such as the absence of disease, good physical and mental health, and social commitment especially through team sports or group activities [ ]. Increased morbidity with age may be partly linked to decreased physical activity. Thus, remaining or becoming active later in life is strongly associated with healthy aging [ ]. The following sections describes effects beyond what is already provided for children and youths.
Participation in sports, with or without competition, promotes healthy behavior and a better quality of life [ ]. Exclusion from sports at a young age appears to have long-term consequences, as the previously described relative age effect Figure 6 remains even for master athletes Malm, Jakobsson, and Julin, unpublished data.
Because master athletes show better health than their peers [ 95 ], actions should be taken to include adults and elderly individuals who earlier in life were excluded from, or never started with sport [ ]. As we age, physical activity at a health-enhancing intensity is not enough to maintain all functions. Higher intensity is required, best comprising competition-oriented training [ , ].
One should not assume that high-intensity exercise cannot be initiated by the elderly [ ]. Competitive sports, or training like a competitive athlete as an adult, can be one important factor to counter the loss of physical ability with aging [ ]. In this context, golf can be one example of a safe form of exercise with high adherence for older adults and the elderly, resulting in increased aerobic performance, metabolic function, and trunk strength [ , ].
Increased morbidity e. An increased risk of cardiovascular disease among adults master compared to other populations has been found [ ]. Unfortunately, the designs and interpretations of these studies have been criticized, and the incidence of cardiac arrest in older athletes is unclear [ ].
Although high-intensity training even for older athletes is positive for aerobic performance, it does not prevent the loss of motor units [ ]. Quality of life is higher in sporting adults compared to those who do not play sports, but so is the risk of injury. When hit by injury, adults and young alike may suffer from psychological disorders such as depression [ ], but with a longer recovery time in older individuals [ ]. As with young athletes, secession of training at age 50 years and above reduces blood flow in the brain, including the hippocampus, possibly related to long-term decline in mental capacity [ ].
As for children and young people, many positive health aspects come through sport also for adults and the elderly [ ]. The percentage of adults participating in competitive sports has increased in Sweden since , from about 20 percent to 30 percent of all of those who are physically active [ 18 ], a trend that most likely provides better health for the group in the 30—40 age group and generations to come. Plan exercise, rest, and social life. For health-promoting and healthy-aging physical activity, refer to general guidelines summarized in this paper: Aerobic exercise three times a week, muscle-strengthening exercise 2—3 times a week.
Adopt a holistic performance development including physiological, medical, mental, and psychosocial aspects. Register and interpret signs of overtraining, such as reduced performance over time, while maintaining or increasing exercise load. All authors approved the final version. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Sports Basel v.
Sports Basel. Published online May Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Received Apr 8; Accepted May This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Positive effects from sports are achieved primarily through physical activity, but secondary effects bring health benefits such as psychosocial and personal development and less alcohol consumption.
Keywords: youth, adolescent, elderly, quality of life, relative age effect, exercise, strength and conditioning. Introduction Sport is a double-edged sword regarding effects on health. Table 1 Recommendations regarding physical activity for different target groups. Target Group Recommendations Purpose Children and youth Age 6—17 years All children and adolescents are recommended at least 60 minutes daily physical activity.
Longer is better. Aerobic physical activity at high intensity at least 3 times a week. Muscle-strengthening physical activity 3 times a week. Weight-bearing activity, such as running and jumping, is positive for bone mineral density. Development of muscles and skeletal and nervous system. Maintain a healthy weight and a good mental health.
Social development, integration, good self-esteem, and self-confidence. Enhanced learning ability. Recommendations are universal, but for individuals with illness, there may be special recommendations. Adults Age 18—64 All adults from 18 years of age and above are recommended to be aerobically physically active at least minutes a week at a moderate intensity medium pulse increase , or at least 75 minutes per week at vigorous intensity marked pulse increase.
The activities should be distributed over at least three separate days. Muscle-strengthening physical activity at least twice a week should be performed. Improvements in aerobic work capacity and muscle strength. Profits from carrying out the activity are lower risk of disease, such as disturbed metabolism and certain cancers and bone fractures. Muscle strengthening exercises should be performed at a high velocity, if possible.
Balance training should be incorporated prior to aerobic and muscle strengthening training. Individuals with impaired ability should perform as much exercise as possible. Improvements in aerobic work capacity, muscle strength, and balance. Medical advice may be required before exercise commences. Benefits of carrying out the activity are the same as for adults, and better functional health and independence.
Open in a separate window. Health Effects of Physical Activity and Training Human biology requires a certain amount of physical activity to maintain good health and wellbeing. Figure 1. Figure 2. Table 2 Health-related physiological effects of aerobic and muscle strengthening physical activity. Effects on Physical Health The effects of physical activity and exercise are both acute during and immediately after and long-lasting.
Table 3 Disease prevention effects of regular physical activity. Lung, hematological, head and neck cancers: Limited evidence. Other; Yes. Breast cancer: Weaker evidence for Hispanic and Black women. Ethnicity: No. Effects on Mental Health Mental illness is a global problem affecting millions of people worldwide [ ]. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Positive Aspects According to several reviews, there is a correlation between high daily physical activity in children and a low risk for obesity, improved development of motor and cognitive skills, as well as a stronger skeleton [ , ].
Table 4 Compiled health profiles for men and women at the age of 20 years, depending on participation in organized sports at the age of 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, and 17 years. Negative Aspects As Table 4 and Table 5 show, there are both positive and negative aspects of sports. Table 5 Positive and negative aspects with sport at young age.
Risk of depression in case of rejection Social The usefulness of teamwork Good communication Larger contributions to society later in life Larger contributions to the family later in life Lower crime Opportunity in developing countries Increased chance of being active in sports clubs as older Easier to reach with education Less integrated with the family Social isolation from other society Physiological Greater physical literacy Abilities to live a healthy life as adult and elderly Less smoking Less drugs Lower body fat Larger muscle mass Beneficial metabolism Higher aerobic and anaerobic capacity Lower risk for fractures as older Reduced general disease risk Physical fatigue Increased injury risk Risk of eating disorders Overtraining Temptation for doping Risk of abuse physical and mental Unilateral training and development For Para athletes, injury can be a double handicap Worse oral health.
Figure 6. Positive Aspects Participation in sports, with or without competition, promotes healthy behavior and a better quality of life [ ]. Negative Aspects Increased morbidity e. Relevance of Sport As for children and young people, many positive health aspects come through sport also for adults and the elderly [ ].
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