Athletics: A Full Body Experience

            As the numerous sports that slowly begin to develop one after another, the more society itself has gotten involved in one form or another. From participation to betting on games, sports and athletics has token the world by storm. Once fall begins to show its cold self, numerous people take to their “caves” and begin streaming hours upon hours of football and basketball, and the tail end of the baseball season. Why do sports entrance the general population? Why are sports a focus for success for a number of people and escaping their reality of work and family? However, one question we should ask is how healthy are these athletes, from their diet to their mental health? Do we ever ponder upon the immense turmoil an athlete has to overcome after costing their team the big game, or simply feeling inadequate from a few failed plays?

            Lately there has been a large focus on the impact of mental health and professional athletes. Mainly on the National Football League and the ever increasing number of retired patrons that are now suffering from severe brain trauma that hasn’t been documented or seen before. There have been a number of retired professional athletes that have taken their own lives due to their trauma and the inability to handle the depression, anxiety, etc. Society continues to place the ultimate success on these athletes on their physical appearance and abilities, which is entirely justifiable for the amount of money they are paid to “play ball”. Upon further investigation how mentally healthy are these athletes? Can they truly handle the pressure and at times rejection by an entire community for having flubbed up a play that could have won the game? There is little emphasis or true testing the mental health and mental self-awareness being applied to these athletes. The current trend is having athletes provide a pre-concussion baseline of mental abilities, and then these are used to help diagnosis concussions and thorough recovery from the concussion. Once medically cleared the athlete normally resumes full activities and are more than likely at higher risks for greater brain injury or trauma.

            A study published in 2007 in the Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise Journal states that out of 2552 surveys returned from retired football players, more than half said they experienced unconsciousness or memory loss due to their concussions observed during their playing career (Bailes et al.). Of those that took the survey and experienced three or more concussions during their playing career, 20% believed they had a negative affect on their cognitive functions as they aged. 11% of the 2552 that responded had been diagnosed with clinical depression, believed to be related to the participant’s traumatic brain injuries (TBI).  Through these experiences and these players TBIs their life has been greatly affected from playing a game they loved. The prevalence of these TBI in football have diminished to a small extent, however the rate of TBI is still outrageous regardless of the equipment advances in order to cushion the skull and brain in the helmet with new padding and new physics added to dissipate the initial impact of head hits to, so that the blunt force isn’t directed to a single location.

            As has been stated in class, TBIs are at risk to develop into greater mental disabilities and disorders such as: mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer disease, and Parkinson syndrome. With one TBI there are can be an increase in developing those disorders, but with repeated TBI exposure those risk continually increase and can cause greater problems later in life. For example Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984 believed from having so many TBI related to his boxing career in his early years. As well Brandon Marshall of the NY Jets was recently diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and many other players are suffering currently in the NFL from mental disorders, but are currently hiding from the media about them. Many players fear that showing and admitting to a mental disorder somehow makes them weaker and less of an example of power and strength to their fans. Now these disorders could have come from a variety of sources including genetics, however many players currently playing in the NFL have played a number of years since they were children or older, and countless hits to the head and countless hits causing some form of whiplash or brain to skull impact could have been the base for their problems.

            Now there can be a variety of mental illnesses or disorders that come about from athletics and many are seen in the women’s side of sports. Many mental illnesses that come from the women’s side of sports can also be TBI, but I believe some of these disorders seen in several sports can be more detrimental and crippling for those athletes involved. Many of these conditions are continuing in the sports today including: body dimorphic disorder, which can lead to many gut disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, depression, and anxiety for those women involved (Peluso et al.). There is a lot of pressure for women in several sports including gymnastic and ballet, that their body must be a specific shape, height and width (Harrison et al.).  These body image issues that continually appear in these sports can have an ever-increasing detrimental effect in young teens that could potentially carry on into adulthood and take serious clinical help to overcome their anxiety and depression. The worst part is that clinical help although normally guaranteed to help and hopefully aid these women into recovery, many continue to suffer and could potentially end their own lives for not “fitting in” within the stigma of what is considered the perfect body to be a gymnast or ballerina.

            Throughout my childhood and continuing until I have always heard the old-age adage that exercise increases mental health and your overall mood. A study done in 2005 on physical activity and mental began to research this topic more in depth. They began looking at the various scenarios that exist for those regularly exercising, over-exercising, or not exercising at all. They formed a collaboration of a number of researchers journal articles to compare the mental health of each set of individuals and see just how exercise effects the human mind. They first begin by stating that yes exercise can release several endorphins and neurotransmitters that can effect and increase mood and happiness levels, however they noticed that the more someone exercised and potentially over-exercised mood levels decreases slightly (Peluso et al.). When exercise was performed in excessive and in an intense manner many individuals’ experiences heightened aggression and decreases in mood levels and happiness. As with everything in life, they suggest that exercise be performed in moderation.

            Throughout my correlational studies between exercise/sports and mental I have come to find greater appreciation for any athlete that continues to play and participate. They can potentially be suffering from some conditions that some cannot comprehend or know anything about them. Society should continue to aid and help provide mental health awareness in order to help athletes professional or less feel more secure and capable to work and overcome those illness and disorders.

WORKS CITED

Guskiewicz, Kevin M., et al. "Recurrent concussion and risk of depression in retired   professional football players." Medicine and science in sports and exercise 39.6 (2007): 903.

Harrison, Kristen, and Barbara L. Fredrickson. "Women's sports media, self‐objectification, and mental health in black and white adolescent females." Journal of Communication 53.2 (2003): 216-232.

Peluso, Marco Aurélio Monteiro, and Laura Helena Silveira Guerra de Andrade. "Physical activity and mental health: the association between exercise and mood." Clinics 60.1 (2005): 61-70.