Playing sports has unparalleled benefits. Regardless of your age, there is always a sport that you could relish playing. If you are in India, playing sports is the only time you get to meet your buddies, after school or coaching.
Physiological Benefits
- Gets you in shape- We all know what great dangers obesity has. Even playing any sport for 30 minutes burns those unessential calories. So let’s play baby!
- Sleep- Want to sleep like a baby? Play some sports. It is quite apparent that if you play some sports your sleep would be deeper and better. Sleeping is very essential for normal body functions.
Psychological, neurological, chemical benefits
When we play, our body releases many chemicals. These chemicals give us much required ‘feel good’ factor. Here is the list of some of these chemicals and how they affect our body and brain:
- Serotonin – It is essentially a neurotransmitter. Lack of serotonin might lead to depression while playing sports increases serotonin levels that gives the feeling of well-being and happiness.
- Norepinephrine- It is said that sports and exercise improve retention power. Credit goes to this hormone. It is a naturally occurring hormone that is responsible for improving attention and ability to concentrate.
- BDNF- brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF is a protein. It has been found that playing sports promotes its production, how and why, still unknown. This protein forms new neural pathways.
- Dopamine- This chemical is key in the puzzle of how we explore the world. This chemical makes us pursue our goals and less dopamine would make you lazy. Guess this is the case why all successful people emphasize playing sports and why sportsmen are so competitive!
- Endorphins- Heard of ‘Runner’s High’? It’s a topic of ongoing research. It is claimed that after vigorous sports activities, some people experience a state of calmness and do not feel pain. Endorphins trigger that.
If we do not understand chemistry, how about some common sense? Sports boost our ability to identify opportunities, promotes teamwork, and increases self-confidence and self-esteem. Perhaps it’s because of these reasons only we shall start some sports from today itself.
Let us know in the comments section which sport do you prefer and why?