Sports Psychology : A branch of Psychology
Sports psychology, an important branch of psychology that is developing rapidly, especially in recent times. It is the study of the influence of psychological factors on sports, athletic performance, exercise and physical activity.
Author : Lavanya Murali
Sports psychology, an important branch of psychology that is developing rapidly, especially in recent times. It is the study of the influence of psychological factors on sports, athletic performance, exercise and physical activity. It is a relatively young discipline and gained much popularity after the 1980s. Since when the researchers became interested in the improvement of athletic performance and the links between exercise and mental well-being. Sports psychologists delve into the benefits of sports and athletics for the well-being of an individual. A common misconception that sports psychologists work only with elite athletes and trainers and care for their mental well-being. They also work with the general public to help them stick to an exercise regimen and learn to love sports. Make them understand the benefits of sports for mental health.
It is a diverse field involving a plethora of topics to explore. The subject matters that are being given the most attention right now are attention, visualization and goal realization, motivation and team building, anxiety, and rehabilitation.
Attention
Athletes are often faced with throngs of screaming fans when they are on the field. It is important to keep their attention on the game and not let anything shake their focus. Attention, hence, is an important topic studied by sports psychologists. They summarise common strategies that might be used to keep attention on the task at hand, for example, deep breathing and mindfulness. This allows athletes to focus on the task at hand, and this could be translated into daily life as well.
Setting Goals
It is important to set goals so that you can work towards them. In sports, people aim for stages like winning the regional competition, state competition, making the national team. Setting such goals opens up a clear path to work towards it, creating an understanding and routine in life. Visualization helps the realization of these goals. It is the creation of a mental image of the outcome you envisage, like winning a match or mastering a difficult technique. This can help center the athletes and prepare them for a performance or competition. This can also be used by people who are not in the sports field to realize and achieve their personal goals.
Motivation
Motivation is one of the most important topics studied in sports psychology. Sports psychologists often work with coaches and professional athletes to improve and optimize motivation to uplift performance. Both external and internal motivators are explored and understood to create the ideal mental environment; to cope with any situation with optimal motivation. Sports psychologists also work on camaraderie and team building; a very important aspect of sports, and more recently even corporate and other work environments. It is important to work together effectively and efficiently. The studies done in this field can be applied and realized by people from other walks of life as well.
Calmness
Athletes often face immense pressure from upcoming matches or events and this can lead to anxiety and burnout. Depending on the severity of the nerves, and how receptive the person experiencing them is, they will have a positive or negative impact on the athlete’s performance. Too much stress, however, often leads to reduced performance. It is, hence, important for the athletes to learn tactics to stay calm before a game. Sports psychologists work with athletes and find ways to reduce performance anxiety and prevent combat burnout. These techniques may include relaxation, tuning one’s language to push out negative thoughts, building self-confidence, and finding distractions. Helping athletes to restore their balance and keep their motivation high can reduce their burnout.
Mental Rehabilitation
When faced with loss or injury in their career, athletes often face a barrage of emotions ranging from anger and frustration to giving up and hopelessness. They may feel like this is the end, and would have fears and anxieties relating to this. In such cases, mental rehabilitation is very important, and sports psychologists provide this for the athletes. They work with them to help the athletes cope mentally and recover from the mental stress caused due to the injury and restore their confidence.
Another way that sports psychology promotes mental health is the study of the benefits of exercise on mental health and well-being. Recent times have shown large spikes in metabolic syndrome, obesity, and other health issues among people, and sports psychology studies the benefits of lifestyle modifications with exercise to improve the quality of life.
Health benefits from regular exercise that are roved and should be empathised are:
Improved sleep, increased interest in sex, better endurance, stress relief, increased stamina, increased energy, weight reduction, reduction of cholesterol, and improved cardiovascular functioning and fitness.
It has been proven that aerobic exercises like jogging, walking, cycling, dancing, and swimming; reduce anxiety, depression, and other issues with mental well-being. These improvements are said to be the result of increased blood circulation to the brain by an influence on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. This has a marked effect on stress. Exercise has also been proven to alleviate social withdrawal and low self-esteem by improving cognitive function and reducing anxiety. Patients with schizophrenia in particular are vulnerable to obesity and other physiological problems as a result of antipsychotic treatments, more so with atypical antipsychotics. They would hence benefit greatly from regular exercise routines.
Conclusion
As we have seen, all the topics explored in sports psychology have important daily life implications. The research conducted in this field can be applied on people who are not involved in sports as well. The misconception that sports psychology is reserved for those pursuing a career in sports is still prevalent. The understanding that sports psychology has integral propositions and implications for the common man. It studies the benefits of sports and exercise as a whole and not just the aspects that benefit professional athletes. The studies in this field can provide much-needed propositions that can help break through this stigma. It is important to realize that there may be some meaning in looking the world through the lens of sports and athletics.
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