Sports play a major role in our lives. It helps us to stay physically and mentally fit. Sports nourishes an individual’s lifestyle.
In this article, we will dig into the different aspects of sports which benefit an individual’s health. So without further ado, let’s jump in!
Physical Benefits of Sports
Involving sports in our lifestyle can help us drastically such as:
- It can help us maintain our body mass index (BMI)
- Keep our lung capacity high
- Build muscle and strength
- Strengthen our cores
- Reduce risks of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, stroke or mental illness.
If we make things very specific then there are various types of benefits in each type of sport and today we will be covering 5 sports and their benefits.
Running
Running is quite a common sport in every country, some people run in tracks professionally and some people run at parks or the streets to keep themselves healthy. Running has many physical benefits.
| Benefits of Running | |
| 1 | Running strengthens the heart and improves the ability of heart and lungs to deliver oxygen to the muscles which are active during running (cardiovascular endurance). |
| 2 | Running helps a lot for weight loss management. People who are on their weight loss journey and are on a calorie deficit, they run to burn more calories as running is the simplest form of burning more calories. |
| 3 | Running helps in developing the muscles in legs such as quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. It also helps in developing the glutes. |
| 4 | Running puts stress on the bones which means that your bones are collectively being stronger the more you run over a period of time. |
Swimming
Swimming engages more of the muscle groups in our body than any cardio activity does. It is a great way to get a full-body workout without putting too much stress on your joints.
The resistance of the water helps us to build our muscular strengths and endurance. The cardiovascular benefits of swimming improves the health of the heart and reduces the risk of any type of chronic disease.
The reduction of the risk of chronic diseases completely depends on how an individual lives his or her life outside the involvement of sports. It is quite subjective.
Swimming also releases an enormous amount of endorphins. In simple words, endorphins are the hormones that get released during a physical activity which blocks perception of sadness or anxiety and increases the feelings of well being which keeps a person mentally happy.
Weightlifting
Weightlifting is an art. It is a great way to improve strength and muscle mass. We have all heard of resistance training, muscular hypertrophy and explosive power; these all fall under the category of weightlifting.
- Resistance training: It will increase the muscle strength by making the muscles work against a weight or force which creates the resistance.
- Muscular hypertrophy: It essentially means to tear the muscles by using minimal weight and doing the exercise for a great number of repetitions and sets. By doing this, the muscle mass improves magnificently and brings shape to your body.
- Explosive power: Explosive training combines power, speed, and strength training to create functional movement that enables you to generate force or decelerate quickly. It reduces the chances of injury and increases bone density. It also increases the neural adaptation for instance it allows more efficient and coordinated muscle contractions leading to greater power output.
Games
Playing games is a recreational activity that makes any sport fun. There are many benefits in playing games such as basketball, football or tennis.
Basketball
Basketball is a game which requires a lot of stamina as a player has to decelerate and accelerate every now and then. The element of explosive power as discussed earlier is highly involved in basketball.
Playing basketball involves frequent jumping, which can help improve vertical jump height over time. Jumping, shooting, rebounding, and defending requires all muscle groups in the body to be active which increases muscular strength and endurance overtime.
Playing basketball also helps you to stabilize your body movement and brings balance to your body as you will need to maintain balance while making quick movements, changing directions, and performing skills such as shooting or passing.
Football
Playing football has many perks such as it helps you in burning calories, increases lung capacity as you will need to run a lot even if you are defending, guarding the midfield or attacking the opponent’s defense.
The immediate changes of direction while playing football and the ability to react on time is another perk of improving your coordination, focus and agility. This perk is a mixture of physical and mental health.
As playing football requires a lot of running, the bones and joints become stronger as the pressure of the body weight directly hits the bones while running. Playing football also increases body flexibility.
Tennis
Playing tennis can burn you a lot of calories especially if you are on a weight loss journey as you will need to release explosive power moves every time you hit the tennis ball with the racquet.
As playing tennis is a full body workout, it increases muscle strength and endurance. The constant running, jumping and lunging will help to tone your muscles and improve your overall fitness.
Tennis is a social game that can enhance your social abilities. It will teach you how to resolve conflicts, communicate clearly, and cooperate with others.
Bottom Line
Doing any sports activity has a lot of perks. If you do it professionally or casually you can still reap benefits from it. Although there might be a difference in reaping the benefits as not everyone’s body is the same plus not everyone does any sports activity every day.
You cannot completely rely on doing sports activities if your aim is to lose weight or gain muscles because you will need to have a proper diet routine according to your goal and sleep is very essential as muscles heal during sleep.
Last but not least, doing any sports activity increases your self esteem, boosts your mood and essentially builds more confidence.