Sports As Stress Relief

During this pandemic, most of the time we have to stay at home. We can not go out and meet our friends and families. Students have to go through online learning and adults have to work from their house. The lack of face-to-face social interactions during this pandemic have caused both adults and children to suffer mentally. They have become easily irritated and stressed.

As we all know, doing sports every day can improve our endurance, strength, agility, and coordination. Apart from that, it can help us accomplish something that we want, such as losing weight, having more energy, etc. But, did you know that doing sports can actually help us to relieve stress?

Stress causes many muscles in your body to tighten too much, making them cramp. Your legs, arms, neck, shoulders, and certain parts of your bodies may become sore and stiff. When you move your body during sports, it makes your muscles become supple and relaxed. As a result, it reduces the tensions in your body, thus helping you to relax.

Doing sports can help to boost your mood as well. During exercise, a substance known as endorphin, a chemical produced naturally by the nervous system to cope with pain or stress, is released. This "feel-good" chemical will make you feel happy and less stressed. A thirty minutes of "moderately intensive" exercise per day can already take care of this. "Moderately intensive" means that you have an increased heart rate and breathing, yet you can still talk well.

Even though the pandemic stops us from doing a lot of interactive activities, we can still do sports to keep us healthy and strong, at the same time reduce our stress. You can do outdoor sports, such as jogging, running, walking, or even indoor sports, such as rope skipping, doing sit ups and push ups.

You might have a tight schedule but try to make time for this as it not only benefits your physical health, but your mental health too.

Sources:

1. Meulenberg, R. (2020, August 20). Sports against stress: This is how you reduce stress by exercising. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://milltain.com/stress/sports/

2. Sturm-Ornezeder, T. (2020, October 1). Feeling Stressed and Exhausted? >> Sports and Stress Management. Adidas Runtastic Blog. https://www.runtastic.com/blog/en/exercise-against-stress/

3. Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress. (2020, August 18). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress