Negative Impacts of Sports
Sports
have various advantages and positive impacts on athletes but despite of these
positive aspects, sports also have negative effects on mental health of both
athletes and non-athletes.
Everyone who participates in sports may
experience mental and physical health issues from time to time, professional
athletes are more prone to ongoing psychological problems because their whole
lives are dedicated to success and pressure that brings.
There
are following negative impacts of sports on athletes:
1.
Toxicity
and Abuse
Although
sport can foster positive relationships, it can also be environment where
bullying and abuse rife. Toxicity can come from anywhere including team
members, fans, coaches, mainstream and social media. Triggers can range from
poor individual performance that can be perceived as letting them down, to an
athlete’s race, sexuality or gender. The toxicity and taunting can be face to
face but it is increasingly done anonymously on social platforms. The offensive
and taunting comments on social media can take a heavy toll on athlete’s mental
health, causing stress and depression. Offensive behavior from coaches is damaging
for young sportspeople where there is an imbalance of power.
2.
Stress
and Sleep Disorder
Recent
research has found that elite sportspeople are susceptible to sleep disorders. A
grueling combination of training, competition and then travel can contribute to
inadequate sleep and poor sleep quality. The anxiety associated with pressure
of performance at high level can also cause sleep problems. People
participating in sport at high level of competition want to do their best, but
professional athletes are under stress to perform.
3.
Sports
Injury
Sports injuries are
often the result of overuse or trauma to part of body. An issue to young athletes is
that the participant’s bones are still growing. Around 8000 children are
rushed to emergency daily because of
sports injuries. In American football, five times as many catastrophic injuries
happen in high school as in college-level competition. Sports injuries include heat illness, dehydration,
muscle cramp, heat stroke and
exertional hypernatremia.
4.
Heat
Illness or Dehydration
Heat illness is a recent concern in young athletes. Heat
illness and dehydration are brought on by conditions of high temperature and
high humidity. Other factors that increase vulnerability include heat-retaining
clothes, recent illness, and chronic conditions or sleep deprivation. Heat
illness is among primary causes of sports-related death and they require
immediate medical attention. Symptoms of this include dry mouth, cramps,
dizziness, fatigue, confusion, headache and loss of consciousness.
5. Over-Training
A female player who feels
pressured to maintain physique or body weight may exercise excessively.
Over-exercising increases the need for rest; her all energy declines, causing
her a total body fat and estrogen levels to drop, this condition is known as
amenorrhea. The human body has tremendous capacity to adapt physical stress.
Stress doesn’t mean only physical damage. T also refers to activity beneficial
to bones, tendons, ligaments, making them strong and more functional. This also
known as remodeling and involves breakdown or buildup of tissues. If breakdown
occurs more than buildup then overuse injury can result. An overuse injury is
damage to bones, tendons or muscles that is subjected to repetitive stress,
without the time to heal.
6. Expensive Sports
Sports can be expensive, which is
another drawback of participating in sports. You might have to spend thousands
of rupees on your equipment and require a lot of protection. For example,
cricket requires complete gear as protection that includes helmets, gloves,
pads and many more.
You will also need to put in a lot
of time if you want to be very exceptional in sport. Therefore, be sure that
you wish to devote sufficient time to your sport.
In conclusion, while sports have
various benefits, it is important to recognize their negative effects on
children as well as on athletes. The risk of injuries, stress to perform,
reinforcement of harmful gender stereotypes and imbalanced lifestyle can have
long-lasting consequences on child’s mental, physical and social well-being. Therefore,
it is important for coaches, parents and society to ensure that children’s
involvement in sport is safe, balanced and promotes holistic development.
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