The life of today is more demanding than ever before. Social media has made it easy for us to catch up with all of our friends and to see how they are progressing in life. While this may be a good thing on one hand, on the other hand, it is having a detrimental effect on society. This is because we get to judge ourselves more when it seems like our friends are progressing faster than we are. At the same time, the economy which is fast moving to a gig economy is also contributing negatively to society. This pressure to keep on working to increase the income is causing burnout and putting too much pressure on us eventually leading to stress.
Handling stress is difficult. However, it’s important for everyone to know that there are a number of strategies to manage and relieve stress. One such strategy to relieve stress is by engaging and participating in sports. The upcoming World Cup which you can follow live at NetBet presents us with an opportunity to engage in sports and help us relieve stress.
Sports promote socialisation
One of the proven ways of managing stress is through socialisation. Engaging in sports either by participating or by simply following sports is a guaranteed way of promoting socialisation. When you participate in a sporting activity, more often than not, you are obliged to socialise i.e. by talking with your teammates, coaches and match officials both on and off the field of play.
Even when you are not participating but just following a game of football, tennis, cricket or any other sport of your choice, from time to time you are bound to discuss or engage in a debate with other spectators about a particular incident that occurs in the match, this on its own will help you to socialise.
Sports can induce sleep
Several studies that have been conducted revealed that the quality of your sleep can help to reduce mental stress. As such, it’s important that you improve the quality of your sleep if you want to reduce stress. One of the proven methods to improve the quality of your sleep is by participating in sporting activities. When you play any sport, you are likely to sleep longer (increase sleep duration) and you are likely to sleep like a child (deep sleep); these two are attributes of a quality sleep as such engaging in sports leads a more stress free life.
Sports increase your self esteem
When battling stress, your self-esteem dramatically decreases. In order to relieve the stress, you will need to increase your self-esteem. To increase self-esteem, you can engage in sports. Sports help you increase your self-esteem in three ways. The first way is through competition, when you win while playing a sport, there is a sense of fulfilment which engulfs you. This sense will make you feel satisfied and happier and it will in turn help improve your self-esteem. The second way is by meeting the goals you set for yourself. Suppose you are into athletics, tell yourself the distance you want to run the next day, the day after and so on. If you meet these goals, you will realise that you will start to feel better about yourself. The last way is by engaging with others. When you play a sport, you become a part of a family, a family consisting of teammates, coaches and fans. This family will help and support you from time to time and the support you receive will help to improve your self-esteem.
2018 ·