Sports participation is great for our mental health
Participation in sports isn't just good for our physical health, but is great for our mental health as well. New research has found that children who are into sports are less likely to go through symptoms of depression and withdrawals when compared to those who do not take part in sports.
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have found that children who participated in one or fewer sports had a higher incidence of depressive and withdrawn symptoms and they suggest that kids should play atleast a couple or more sports to boost their mental health.
The lead researcher Punit Matta opines that two or more sports"may be the magic number" and has told Medscape news that they found a statistically significant difference between kids who engaged in two or more sports compared to those who played none or just one.
They hypothesized that motivating kids to take part in sports might be an effective early intervention for children who are at risk. This made them investigate the link between sports participation in kids and symptoms of mental health conditions.
"Originally we were interested in examining the relationship between attention problems and physical activity", said the study's co-author Andrea Spencer. "Then we realised that the Child Behaviour Checklist(CBCL) data set would allow us to look at this question for a much wider set of symptoms. And what we found was really interesting", she added.
Also, the researchers opine that kids who participated in one or more sport participated throughout the year, rather than just for a particular season. Also, since they are always among their peer groups while playing, they start talking about sports and slowly, start discussing things other than sports too. This can help improve their confidence. Also, Since sports keep them busy, they are likely to not take part in substance abuse as well.
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