CAN SPORTS BE GOOD FOR YOUR OVERALL HEALTH?
Being physically active is often suggested by health care professionals all over the world. Physical activities come in various forms, walking, dancing, running, or even hitting the gym a few times a week. Sports can have a huge impact on one’s daily physical and mental wellbeing. Indulging in sporting activities can help improve heart functions, reduce the risk of diabetes, improve bones, and strengthen muscles while lowering your stress levels. Sports not only improve your body but your mind too, it brings positive energy, concentration, discipline, and also help your brain functions by improving mind-body coordination and muscle memory.
Primary health care doctors at A. J. Hospital often suggest that there are endless benefits to great physical well-being from playing a sport, we have listed some of them for you.
> WEIGHT CONTROL
About 13% of the population of the world is obese according to WHO. Obesity often increases the risk of hypertension and heart-related risks.
A good way to shed excess weight is to indulge in sports. Sports are usually intense in physical activity and help you burn a substantial number of calories. Playing a sport regularly along with a healthy well-balanced diet is a sure shot way to keep your weight in check and will help you achieve a desired healthy body shape.
> LOWER HYPERTENSION/ CHOLESTEROL
Hypertension also known as high blood pressure is a serious health risk and can affect people of all ages. Playing a sport exercises your heart at regular intervals by increasing your pulse and bringing it down periodically.
Sports provides a complete package of exercises by helping you run, stretch and cool down naturally. Sports are a fun thrilling activity that ensures a healthy heart while controlling and maintaining optimum cholesterol levels.
> STRENGTHENS IMMUNITY
Exercise improves the rate of flow of white blood cells through the body. Most sports we play will ensure we easily break a sweat. When we sweat a lot of toxins are discarded by the body. Increased body temperatures while playing a sport also helps fight against bacteria.
> MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT
When you engage in gig activity sports such as football, basketball, cricket or tennis, you train your muscles to work together and improve muscle strength. The more you play, the better your muscles develop and become stronger.
Regularly playing sports tones your muscles helping you gain lean muscle mass and reduce overall body fat. For overall muscle toning and growth, one must play an intensive sport regularly.
> STRENGTHENS BONES
Just like muscles, as we play a sport our body puts immense pressure on our bones. Whether you are walking or running, additional stress is added on various joints of the body helping it to adapt by improving bone density. As we grow older our bone density decreases and a fun way to maintain and improve good healthy bone density is to indulge in sports.
> IMPROVES MENTAL HEALTH
Sports bring a lot of positive energy. Sports are not just a fun activity but are also refreshing to the mind. Being good at a sport improves confidence and self-esteem significantly. Sports also teach us to think faster, react quicker, and are extremely beneficial to our daily lives. We also learn to remain calm in tough situations and learn to handle stressful environments without panicking.
It also helps us with interpersonal relationships by introducing like-minded people that have a common goal.
Sports are a great form of workout both mental and physical. They are fun to play with and do not feel like a daily mundane chore that needs to be ticked off the to-do list. Playing a sport can be great for an individual as well as an activity that can involve the entire family. A healthy body and a healthy mind can bring a lot of positivity to your life and keep you and your family in great shape.