Every quality health plan includes eating right and engaging in some sort of physical activity. Why we need to eat right is obvious; to provide us with needed nutrients to nourish our bodies and help us stay strong. Exercise has the obvious physical benefits, and when you engage in sports as exercise you get an additional range of important psychological, and social benefits. Sports figures like Jack Elway knew that many of benefits that sports provide can help you in your daily life and in dealing with tough situations as they emerge. Read on to hear more about the wonderful benefits that sports provide.
Social Benefits
One great attribute of sports is that it is a social activity. Whether you are meeting a friend each weekend at the park to play tennis or meeting your group at the baseball diamond to play softball every Wednesday, you end up being out in the public and around people. Sports is the perfect activity to develop social talents and understand social interactions. They provide a great chance to learn admiration, good sportsmanship, fellowship, collaboration, problem solving, persistence, and accountability.
Sports brings people together and gets us interacting around an activity that is great for us in many ways. And invariably you end up being invited to get a beer after the game or to share a meal with your teammates and opponents. This creates great opportunities for you to brush up on social skills and meet new friends. Many great relationships are developed while playing sports and some last a lifetime.
Mental Benefits
The emotional and psychological skills are just as important as the physical ones in sports. Many times an inferior athlete beats a superior one because his mental game is better. So it is advised that when you play sports, you work on the mental with the physical, or you probably won’t become great. Working on the mental side of the game provides players with a toughness that can be used during the sport, but also in life. Jobs today often require great concentration and multitasking skills that are also needed to be good in sports. Similarly, at home where you have to juggle the kids’ schedule, your spouse’s needs, bills and relatives, you need to be able to quickly and effectively move through different moods and relationships on the fly. When you refine these skills in sports, you benefit yourself in these other important areas of your life. Sports can improve attitude, awareness, poise, and self-image. They also teach us how to control our feelings.
Physical Benefits
No one would argue today that we as a society need to engage more in physical activities. Between working longer hours, trying to spend time at home with the family and the Internet which literally stops us in our tracks and adds to a sedentary lifestyle, we simply do not get enough exercise in our schedules.
Sports get you to exercise regularly and because they are fun, you will want to do it all the time. Because they demand you have someone else to play with, you will have others who can motivate you to exercise even when you are sore or just not feeling like doing it that day. When you play sports, you will find yourself pushing yourself harder because that is the nature of competing, and as you get in better shape, you will want to continue down the path of playing sports regularly. Finally and as an added bonus, if you play sports competitively and start winning, you will be further motivated because you want to remain the champion or become one.
When you add up all the benefits for playing sports, there is no reason to not get out there and compete!
