Why Mental Health in Sports is Important?

Is mental health in sports important? Our athletes represent the peak of physical agility.

They represent our hopes and dreams of winning, but they also represent our failures and shortcomings. Research shows that mental illness affects around 35% of athletes in the form of stress, burnout, eating disorders, depression, or anxiety.

Some risk factors that are heightened in this population are heavy training demands, pressure to perform well, inadequate sleep from intensive training, and stigma related to mental illness in sports.

Mental Health in Sports

Statistics show that female athletes in professional sports are more likely to be diagnosed with a psychological problem than men and appear more susceptible to facing difficulties in their environment than their male counterparts.

Female athletes were also 56 percent more likely than males to suffer from an anxiety disorder. The stigma attached to mental illness is predominant in the athletic world due to its emphasis on appearing physically and mentally fit and the belief that mental illness is a sign of weakness.

Athletes frequently neglect their mental health in an effort to maintain their physical health and performance at their highest level. That leaves them prone to mental issues, like depression and anxiety.

Conversations on the sports field, in locker rooms, and in gyms frequently concentrate around players and athletes being tough, gritty, and driven to win. These motivating words, however, can have a completely different meaning for professional athletes.

Well-being requires a balance of physical and mental strength. (Image via Pexels/Pixabay)

Being tough frequently entails displaying no symptoms of weakness, a refusal to acknowledge the difficulties of living in a hostile environment, and maintaining an appearance of composure at all times. If you add intense performance pressure to that, the results could be disastrous.

The two conditions identified that uniquely impact athletes are performance anxiety and identity loss. Performance anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders athletes experience.

Moderate levels of anxiety can be beneficial and can improve performance. However, high levels of anxiety can be detrimental and lead to poor performance. Performance anxiety is an unpleasant psychological state in reaction to perceived stress concerning the performance of a task under pressure.

Another unique aspect that factors into athletes' mental health is their susceptibility to struggling with identity loss or identity crisis. An individual can identify with multiple groups, such as students, friends, or family members. Each identity has its own rules and behaviors that are expected to be adhere to, which solidify our association with that identity.

Athletes are particularly susceptible to unidimensional identity, which means they exclusively identify as an athlete. That occurs due to intense physical and mental demands and the need for athletes in professional sports to spend most of their time dedicated to their sport.

Thus, athletes face the unique struggle of separating their perception of themselves as individuals, as their identity is so entwined with their team's.

How Athletes Can Boost Their Mental Health

While athletes are constantly reminded of their physical regime, they should also be encouraged to balance that with their mental health. Here are a few ways in which athletes can support their mental health:

1) Get in Touch with a Close Friend to Open Up

Compete in the field, support each other outside the field. (Photo via Pexels/Pixabay)

Sometimes all you need is a trusted friend with whom you can talk. Have you ever found that talking to a friend about a struggle or an issue makes you feel better?

To maintain your mental health, it's important to express your feelings and anything that's upsetting you. Speak with a buddy who understands and listens to you without passing judgment. Talking to a friend can also make you feel more connected to the world, more confident, and less anxious

2) Self-care Time

It's easy for us to schedule time for a walk or physical exercise, but it's difficult to do the same for our mental health. When was the last time you made time for yourself? Have all the practices and games kept you busy? When was the last time you took a vacation or had a day to yourself?

Even Olympic competitors, according to Sports Psychology, should occasionally take a day off from training, and you should do the same. Athletes in professional sports and student athletes alike should schedule time for themselves to unwind and pursue their passions (other than training or playing sports).

Go camping outside, if you find it useful, and if gardening makes you joyful, do it.

3) Engage in Mindfulness

With physical power comes great responsibility towards mental health. (Image via Pexels/Visit Almaty)

Are you feeling stressed out between workouts and sports activities? Utilize meditation to help you cope up by practicing mindfulness. Combining deep breathing exercises with mindful meditation is a terrific workout to boost mental health and help you focus more in your athletic arena.

Takeaway

The first step in assisting someone with a mental health illness is to be there for them. Even listening without making judgements can be quite beneficial. Support groups, counseling, therapy sessions, and, if necessary, medication can all enhance mental health.

However, the most crucial steps towards rehabilitation are empowering athletes to regulate their stress level with basic yet effective stress management practices and assisting them in developing healthy coping mechanisms. In the long run, making a consistent effort to put their mental health above everything else can have the biggest impact on their well-being.

Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.