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“IMPACT OF SPORTS AND GAMES ON MENTAL HEALTH”

K.UNNAMALAI AND V.MAHESHWARI

LADY DOAK COLLEGE, MADURAI.

EMAIL ID: unnamalaikasi@gmail.com

buddygirl764@gmail.com

CONTACT: 9445838890, 9444961116.

ABSTRACT:

This presentation is about the impact of sports and games on mental health, as it
enhances mental process and a mental illness reliever. It touches upon each aspect of mental
ability to withstand sports, deals with the role of it in mental process and in depression,in
enhancing personality and used in mental asylums to treat patients who are mentally ill. Our
main motive is to inculcate the fact that Sports in day-to-day life is a curable medicine for
mental health problems as we have substantiated our statement with the the articles of
sporstsperson’s life incidents and survey through bar graph, concluded the sports to be an
important tool at each stage of life, crossed over the time period of the healthy life. Above the
certain limit, sportsman’s pressure leads to mental illness which is concluded with the effects
of sports upon him, as our paper deals with his negative aspects such as the injury in him,
retirement, and his failure.In order to bring out his performance to be a success, we adopt
strategies of mental health and makes him recover from injuries and thus, he needs a
extended help from the third person called the sports psychologist to help him with relaxation
at all levels of pressure as for example in Boxing they use SPERA ,a technique of reducing
pressurization as referred to Dr.Lopolopo. Finally, our research also saw the sides of
unfavourable reaction to his inability and injury with interesting case studies and real life
incidents as an example for substantiating our statements to be an provable one in our routine
life. Our research ended up with the last string, that of balancing in our approach towards
sports is a good medicine for all mental illness and a great stress reliever. We worked on the
aim that SPORTS ARE 10% PHYSICAL AND 90% MENTAL PARTICIPATION
OF LIFE.
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INTRODUCTION :

“Single mindedness and total commitment to a goal can make the person oblivious to
reality unable to deal with changes to their environment.”

-Steve Jobs ,Co-founder of Apple.

Sport are all usually forms of competitive physical activity or games which, through casual
or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while
providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators. And
a game is structured form of play, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as
an educational tool. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both.
Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform
an educational, simulational, or psychological role. Mental health is a level
of psychological well-being, or an absence of mental illness. It is the "psychological state of
someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioural
adjustment". A widely accepted definition of health by mental health specialists is
psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's definition: the capacity "to work and to love".Now, lets see
the correlation between sports and mental health on the rest of the presentation.

Impact of Sports and Games On Mental Health at every circumstances of life :

Mental Illness: Mental illness is recognized as a major contributor to the global burden of
disease, accounting to 14 %.A lack of social support, prolonged displacement, breakdown of
community, deprivation of basic needs are major factors which contribute to poor levels of
mental health. The WHO has stated that the physical and mental health are interconnected
because people with mental health problems are more likely to have a poor diet, being
addicted or obese due to the side effects of medication. Sports and games are increasingly
incorporated into psychological assistance programs for conflict affected populations and is a
sub-category of “Sport for development and Peace.”

Role of Sports in mental process: A series of experiments demonstrated that exercise can
stimulate serotonin release, increase expression of neuronal growth factors such as
BDNF[Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor]and promotes the release of neuro transmitters and
provoke hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes stimulation. Pumping up sweat releases mood
boosting hormones inside the brain called β-endorphins that swirl through your system and
generate a buoyant feeling. The up heat aftermath of aerobic exercise session can last upto
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90-120 minutes, the American Council on Exercise says, Being physically active, our mind
is distracted from daily stresses and there would be no space for negative thoughts. It reduces
the stress hormones which disturb the natural homeostatic of the body and triggers brain
chemicals that have direct mood enhancing effects and makes you feel happy, more relaxed
and enhances key mental skills as sharp thinking, learning and using good judgement. The
American Diabetes Association recommends taking up a sport whether it’s ballroom
dancing or bicycling to help your body more effectively process the tension and relaxes our
blood vessels, and participation in a recreational sport relieves stress by drawing your
concentration toward your activity and away from the pile of responsibilities.

Depression: According to Marianne Engle, kids playing sports may have reduced anxiety
and depression. Although effective pharmacological intervention exist, depression which is
one of the major causes for morbidly and mortality remain inadequately treated. Dr.Michael
Babyak demonstrates that depressed people who participated in structured sporting activities
for 4 months were more likely to report minimal or no depressive symptoms than
comparative groups who took medicines The American College of Sports Medicine
advocates exercise and sporting , as a way to alleviate depression in adults citing a 2006
study in the “JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY.”

“When time is at a premium for most people, leisure activity and entertainment fulfils
the psychological need to escape from the stresses and strains of life and go into another
world for a period of time.”

2014 SURVEY BY “SPORT IN MIND.”

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
WB S and A S and D S or C C and S A and F

WB-Improved feeling of well being.

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S and A-Reduced levels of Stress and Anxiety.

S and D-Reduced symptoms of Depression.
S and C-Improved Self-esteem or Confidence.
C and S-Improved Concentration and Sleeping patterns.
A and F-Reduced feelings of Anger and Frustration.

Feedback of a person who was a part of the “SPORT IN MIND”:

“I didn’t have much to look forward to before I joined here but now I live to play sport. It
changed my life completely. I no longer feel depressed or scared to do things and I’m back
working full time.”
Enhances Personality: Sports have improved person’s skill in goal setting, time
management, emotional control, leadership, wisdom, social intelligenge, cooperation and self
exploration. According to the Association For Applied Sports Psychology, it improves our
self perception as we would have lost weight makes us strengthen our self esteem, lessen
anxious with a decreased risk of suicidal behaviour also gains muscle to have a perfect
outlook. It improves confidence and serves as an effective leadership traits, and to be
socially amiable. Howell Wechsler received 50 studies that examined the effect of school-
based physical activity on academic performance and discovered that half of the students
showed positive associations and virtually none of the research demonstrated any negative
impact. Sports and other forms of physical activity improve the quality of sleep by helping us
to fall asleep faster and deepens our sleep. The Centres For Disease Control and
Prevention(CDCP)recommend sports participation in sports as a good way to maintainour
wholesome healthy life. According to an article in the “American Journal Of Psychiatry”
dated 2005 December states that participation in sports made us feel, less anxious even sports
and games have immense impact on crime prevention and to get relieved from addiction.
AGE GROUPS THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS AT VARIOUS STAGES
OF LIFE
3 to 5 years Psychometer development [Jean Zimmerman,Gill Reavill-“Raising Our
Athletic Daughters”.]
6 to 12 years To get acquainted with movements and to complement his mental and
physical health[Marianne Engle].
12 to 18 years Helps to relieve stress and in character building [American academy of
Teenage child and adolescent psychiatry].
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School Period Enables to focus, concentrate and motivate and keeps energetic and
active during our academic performance[Theodore Hesburgh-“The
Importance of School Sports and Education”].
Young People To overcome problems and enhances social interaction [National
Association for Sports and Physical Education].
Adulthood For relaxation and to maintain health as youth.

Womens To handle mental stress, enables them self-confidence, socially

competent in all walks of life.
Elder People To Improve their Mental Health and Wellness.

Other Sectors Employees of Ministries, Hospitals, Industrial Centres, Corporations,

Institutions, Professional organizations, IT Departments, Banks, etc-FOR
RECREATION OF LIFE FROM ROUTINE.

In Mental Asylums: Sports participation is practised in mental asylums, as the interactions

within the sporting environment were often different, that diverts our mental illness or
problems. As one mentally patient from the study by Carter Morris and Faulkner stated,
“it breaks down barriers and builds bridges...”.Team games initially and principally
Cricket, but later other games, were played in mental asylums in various parts of Britain
from mid 19th century,before being abandoned in the move to “call in the community” from
1980’s. Taking this as an detailed example, The Norfolk Lunatic Asylum now St.Andrew’s
Hospital uses the sports and games in patient therapy.

Later this presentation moves on with effects of sports in sportsman which undergoes three
subtopics as injury, retirement and failure in sports and its negative impact on the
sportsperson.Three strategies are used to overcome the mental illness which are followed to
enhance performance through various skills such as visualization, self talk and relaxation
techniques, emotional control, mental imagery, transitional adjustment are adorned by the
person o achieve their potential goals and they are helped by sports psychologists through
helplines,at all levels to deal with pressure from family, fans, coaches or even their own
expectations. They also need to overcome to recover from injuries as athletes has to adhere
their physical therapy regimens or adjusted to be side lined.
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“There is a great appetite to address mental health issues within sport and things are
improving but the support for athletes is nowhere near adequate.”

-Clarke Carlisle, Footballer and Mind Ambassador.

Balance is our approach towards sports: Sports is a best medicine for all mental illness and
a great stress reliever at all our aspects of our life activities. At the same time, once sports
become a professional thing, it does have several own problems as each profession have.
Sportsmen being over obsessed with sports over the certain level and who could not control
the pressure end up in worse situations of mental health. Hence, a balance in the approach
towards the sports is essential to have self-contentment.

“Just as you train your body, you must TRAIN your MIND”

-Lionel Messi, Footballer.

CONCLUSION:

Once achievement and success become key factors in sports, then sportsmen would
have failed to have the relaxation, rather they end up themselves in Pressurization. Whereas
the regular exercise that comes with playing sports can help boost your confidence, self-
esteem, strength, skills and stamina and also reduce the stress and depression. As with all
professional sports, mental health issues for competitors in individual as opposed to team
sports can be difficult to identify. Thus, sports should be taken sportive and not to get more
obsessed and to make them hazardous.

“EVERY PRACTICE AND COMPETITION BEGINS WITH THE WAY YOU

THINK. -STEPHANYL COAKLEY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES:
Yadvinder, Singh. SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sports ; https://www.brianmac.co.uk/psych.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/games ; https://www.sportpsych.org/nine-mental-skills-overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_psychology ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mentalhealth
www.sportspsychologyfootball.com/football-psychology/ ; http://www.sportinmind.org ;
http://bmj.com/CGI/content/full/322 ;
The social impacts of sports and physical recreation by Australian National centre for culture and statistics.