Introduction
Physical activities related to sport participation are any bodily movements caused by skeletal muscles and require energy expenditure. Sports participation is determined by the type, such as football, swimming, basketball, netball, cycling, and cricket, either individually or in teams. It is also organized in competitive and non-competitive terms depending on the purpose and setting of the sport. Additionally, sports participation is influenced by factors such as age, disability, ethnicity, as well as opportunity, and access. Sport-based exercise is largely advantageous accompanied by multiple benefits, including physical, emotional and social benefits but it is also associated with negative aspects such as addiction to exercise, steroid use, injuries, and body dysmorphic disorder.
Benefits of Sports Participation
Physical Benefits
The linked physical benefits include weight management, reduced risk of disease, and strengthening muscles and bones. Physical activity is an essential component in weight control as it helps enhance the body’s metabolism rate, which determines the number of calories an individual burns each day (Rippe, 2021). Moreover, physical activity aids in increasing and maintaining lean body mass, which determines the number of calories burnt daily which helps control body weight. To maintain weight, the calories consumed must balance with the energy burnt. These calories burnt are mostly initiated with performed physical activity. Therefore, sport-based exercise is essential for weight control, which helps prevent obesity.
The strengthening of muscles and bones is vital as they help support and balance the body while moving. Moreover, healthy joints, muscles, and bones enable an individual to effectively do daily activities and remain physically active. Exercises such as jogging, playing tennis, and weight lifts help increase muscle, bone, and joint strength (Grimes and Kachadoorian, 2022).
This is particularly beneficial for older adults that may experience reduced muscle mass and strength. Additionally, exercise improves the functioning of the respiratory and circulatory systems, which then help facilitate efficient glucose and oxygen delivery to the muscle, which then promotes their strengthening. Strong ligaments and muscles help minimize risks to the lower back and joint pain by ensuring proper alignment of joints. Therefore, increased participation in sporting activities can significantly help an individual improve their muscle, bone, and joint strength and minimize the risk of falling regardless of age.
Sports participation is significant in reducing the risk of diseases such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes. Physical activities help strengthen the heart and enhance efficient circulation in the body (Nieman and Sakaguchi, 2022). Improved blood flow increases the body’s oxygen levels, which then aids in minimizing the risk of heart conditions such as heart attack, high cholesterol, and coronary artery disease. Additionally, continuous exercise helps lower triglyceride and blood pressure levels, reducing the possibility of stroke and heart attack experiences. Additionally, engagement in sporting activities helps lower blood sugar levels and improve insulin efficiency, thereby preventing diabetes. Furthermore, sports participation is vital in preventing obesity which can cause hypertension, diabetes, and stroke. Exercise helps the body get rid of excess fat in terms of calorie burning hence managing weight, thereby preventing obesity (Gaesser and Angadi, 2021).
Moreover, physical activity helps guard against various cancer types. Conditions such as colon and breast cancers are mostly caused by inactivity and obesity (Mctiernan et al., 2019). Thus, increased physical activity is vital in reducing these types of cancers as it helps minimize obesity occurrence.
Moreover, physical exercise help decrease the levels of total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol which then aids in preventing the risk of coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke as well as a myocardial infarction. Additionally, physical activity is beneficial in increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (Ruiz-Ramie, Barber, and Sarzynski 2019). HDL helps remove the bad forms of cholesterol from the bloodstream and lowers the possibility of heart attack, coronary disease, and stroke.
Moreover, cardiovascular-based physical exercises such as swimming, cycling, and running are associated with increasing brain power or neuro function. Participation in physical activity can lead to the creation of new brain cells, also known as neurogenesis, which helps improve brain performance. Additionally, increased physical activity promotes the rise of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF takes a vital role in enhancing neuronal growth and survival and serves as a neurotransmitter modulator, thereby enhancing brain power (Antunes et al., 2019).
Furthermore, BNDF aids in the regulation of synaptic plasticity, which helps improve memory and memory, which fosters brain performance. The neurotrophic factor also increases synaptogenesis, leading to the formation of new synapses that help mediate and sharpen memory and learning. This makes it easier for the brain to absorb new knowledge and form and store long-term memories.
Emotional Benefits
Sports participation is also accompanied by emotional benefits such as increased happiness and self-esteem, positive mood, and decreased tension. Physical activity triggers the release of endorphins which initiate feelings of euphoria and happiness. In addition, these hormones help lift mood and prevent the risk of depression and anxiety (Brilliant et al., 2021). Moreover, exercise enhances the release of serotonin which aids in the regulation of mental health and promotes the production of norepinephrine which is a neurotransmitter that helps improve mood. Additionally, exercise helps reduce the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which then aids in minimizing the risk of stress.
Furthermore, increased physical activity can help boost positive self-image and self-esteem. Exercise quickly improves the perception of individuals toward their attractiveness which help promote feelings of self-worth. Physical exercise helps individuals remain physically fit and slow down aging (Brilliant et al., 2021). This helps people maintain their attractiveness and help foster self-worth and self-esteem as they tend to feel contented with their bodies.
Social Benefits
Sport-related physical activity is associated with social health benefits such as social interactions and integration. Sports participation helps promote social behaviors, including positive peer relationships, and enhances positive moral and ethical behavior and empathy. This helps individuals easily get along with others hence fostering social interactions. Additionally, physical exercise provides the opportunity for and enhances the frequency of starting interpersonal interactions. Engaging in sporting activities can be an easy way to find and connect with friends that enjoy similar things and develop relationships that are more sustainable.
Furthermore, involvement in sporting activities offers a healthy means for individuals to spend quality time with their friends and family. The social nature of participation helps individuals gain a sense of belonging, which opens the path to the socialization process. Moreover, sports participation enhances collective participation, especially when teams are involved (Sabbe et al., 2018). Collective participation in a social setting helps individuals develop understanding, peace, and tolerance, which aids in bringing people together regardless of culture, boundaries, background, and religion.
Negative Aspects of Sporting Participation
(Head) Injuries
Every sport is linked with injury at some point, meaning that it is difficult for an individual to evade it. Injuries range from simple ones, such as strains and muscle pulls, to more serious ones, like sports-related traumatic brain injury (SR-TBI) (Theadom et al., 2020). Some of the incurred injuries keep reappearing, making it very difficult for an individual to continue engaging in sporting activities. The recovery process varies with age, as older individuals take a longer time to get well. Sports injuries are caused mainly by a direct impact, great force application than the body part can endure, or overexercise. The common injuries associated with sporting participation include joint wounds, bruises, sprains, nose bleeds, and head injuries.
Serious injuries among sports participants can result in disability and reduced mobility making it challenging for them to continue engaging in such activities. One such injury that can negatively affect an individual’s quality of life is a severe head injury such as traumatic brain injury (TBI). A traumatic brain injury is acquired through a blow directly to the head that affects normal brain functioning (Theadom et al., 2020).
TBI is common among sports such as rugby, hockey, soccer, football, skateboarding, boxing, lacrosse, and martial arts. The injury occurs when the head is spontaneously and violently hit with a heavy object which pierces the skull and damages the brain tissue. Depending on the degree to which the brain is damaged, TBI symptoms can range from mild, severe, or moderate (Theadom et al., 2020). Mild traumatic brain injury may lead to brief changes in consciousness or mental state, whereas severe instances can cause prolonged unconscious and coma periods and, in some cases, death.
Individuals suffering from TBI experience motor dysfunctions such as troubles with balance. In other cases, participants are faced with the inability to coordinate or control motor and reflex functions. TBI patients also experience sensory dysfunction with difficulties in taste, hearing, and sight, dizziness, and hypersensitivity to sound and light. Furthermore, TBI is associated with cognitive impairment with confusion, difficulties in understanding directions, agitation, and reduced attention spans (Theadom et al., 2020). Moreover, TBI is linked with speech problems where individuals find it challenging to use the right word and cannot express their thoughts.
Exercise Addiction
Addiction to exercise is denoted by the unhealthy fixation on physical activity that results in compulsive behavior and impairs an individual’s ability to control their sport participation without regard to harmful health consequences. Exercise initiates the production of certain chemicals or neurotransmitters, such as endorphins and dopamine, which cause some form of euphoria similar to drugs that can be addictive to sporting participants (Corazza et al., 2019).
The released chemicals in the nervous system cause a sense of pleasure or reward, which individuals can then develop dependence, thus leading to addiction (Corazza et al., 2019). The neurotransmitters are released with an increase in physical activity and go away when exercise is stopped. An individual addicted to these chemicals will tend to exercise more to stimulate their release.
Addiction to exercise is mostly associated with the need for fitness which then creates obsessions with physical activity. Additionally, exercise addiction is linked with a dynamic alteration of a person’s professional, social and personal functioning and an increased risk for various pathologies such as eating disorders, physiological distress, and physical injury (Corazza et al., 2019). Moreover, pressures in a social setting and the desire to perform better can influence individuals to participate in sports more than necessary to maximize their efforts.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Beliefs around the sporting world expect athletes, particularly females, to focus on and attend to the aesthetic concerned with their physical bodies. Following this pressure, some participants tend to develop body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which is regarded as a mental health condition that entails individuals obsessing over their supposed bodily faults (Corazza et al., 2019). BDD is regarded as a layered tissue among athletes accompanied by diverse body standards set in sports media and mainstream. In some instances, participants feel trapped between two beauty measures, unsure which suits them (Corazza et al., 2019). Female athletes find it challenging to possess a stronger body physique, whereas society dictates them be leaner and thinner. Conversely, male participants are expected to be more masculine, making it challenging to exhibit a thinner physique.
The developed confusion among athletes makes it difficult for them to accept their bodies which leads to body dysmorphic disorder. Athletes are more inclined to change their eating habits and set extreme exercise schedules in an attempt to reach their body goals ((Corazza et al., 2019)). Concerns related to body exercise and body image are associated with controlling weight, muscle gain, and attractiveness, all of which are aimed at meeting societal specifications.
Use of Steroids
The majority of sports athletes work under the view that sports performance is about winning hence engage in any way that can make them achieve this goal, including the use of steroids. Steroids are controlled substances that sporting participants abuse in high doses to help enhance their athletic performance. Anabolic steroids act as the natural male hormone produced in the body to aid in muscle tissue building and increasing body mass among athletes, but they do not improve their skill or agility (Mazzeo, 2018). Natural testosterone contains anabolic effects in the body, which foster muscle building and androgenic effects characterized in male traits such as deeper voice, and facial hair.
Some athletes take straight testosterone in the form of synthetic modified anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are also used to minimize muscle damage during hard exercise, help athletes recover quickly, and increase their efficiency and frequency of working out (Mazzeo, 2018). Other athletes are motivated by the appearance that comes with taking steroids hence continuing their abuse. Medically, steroids help control inflammation but can cause adverse health problems such as cancers, high blood pressure, liver damage, heart disease, and infertility.
Conclusion
In conclusion, sporting participation is associated with positive and negative effects that influence the health and well-being of individuals. One of the physical benefits of exercise is that it helps with weight control by initiating the burning of calories. In addition, exercise helps reduce the risk of such as stroke, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension and aids in the strengthening of muscles and bones. Moreover, sporting exercise is significant in boosting brain performance and sharpening memory and learning. The emotional benefits of participation in sports are that it improves self-esteem and positive mood, increases happiness and reduces tension.
Furthermore, physical activity helps reduce depression, stress, and anxiety. On the other hand, sporting activities help promote social integration and interactions. Despite the numerous benefits, sports participation is plagued with negative aspects, such as injuries caused during exercise, such as TBI. Conversely, sporting participation can cause exercise addiction among athletes, mostly associated with improving performance and body fitness. Physical activity can also be associated with body dysmorphic disorder concerned with body image and the use of steroids to enhance performance by enhancing muscle building and increasing body mass.
Reference List
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