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The benefits of football for mental health
In recent decades, the general awareness of mental health has increased significantly, and more and more people are realizing the importance of taking care of the psychological state to improve the quality of life. Many studies in this area focus on the relationship between the mental state of a person and his physical activity. The results of scientific work confirm that football, like other sports, helps to cope with internal difficulties.
The UK National Health Service gives five simple tips for maintaining mental well-being:
- Connect with people
- go in for sports
- Acquire new talents and skills
- Be kind and generous to others
- Live in the present
Yes, football is perfect on all five counts – it's a great way to keep in touch with old friends and make new ones. To succeed in a team sport, you need to communicate with partners: think over a game plan, suggest the best solution, warn of danger, gently support or sharply cheer up a fallen comrade. A common cause unites, adventures on the football field often help to strengthen friendships beyond its borders.
It's easy to join the game even if you don't know anyone on the court. Passing by a group of players, you can always ask for a team – usually they refuse only if there is no more room on the field, but in this case it is enough to wait until someone is going to leave. Football is the most popular sport on the planet, so you won't have to look for partners for a long time.
It's not the toughest sport, but it requires some serious effort from the players – the perfect combination for anyone who wants to keep fit. On the positions of the striker and midfielder will have to rush the entire match. The defender must constantly keep the opponent under control and regularly enter the tackle, and it is important for the goalkeeper to maintain concentration and be ready at any moment to save the goal. An athlete on the field runs, jumps, slides, accelerates, hits, changes direction abruptly and does many other things that have a positive effect on physical and mental health.
In order to become a good football player, you need to pump skills – for example, develop the vestibular apparatus. This is useful when fighting shoulder to shoulder with an opponent, when playing with the head, when hitting the ball. There are a lot of activities in football that require players to stand firmly on their feet and maintain balance, which means learning a new skill.
In addition to balance when jumping, running and hitting, other skills will come in handy. Aim and hit the ball at a small target, make quick decisions, head accurately, take the ball away from the opponent, block shots, take the correct position without the ball.These are just some of the required skills. Football increases brain activity, and this is important for psychological health.
In England, there is an entire football club dedicated to helping people cope with mental difficulties – the creators were supported by a member of the royal family and the head coach of the national team. Read the history of the team here.
Football teaches to be kind to others, to treat teammates and opponents with respect. When you go one-on-one with the goalkeeper and you can easily score a goal, but you pass a friend to an empty net, you show great empathy and care. The same thing happens when, at the sight of a suffering opponent, you knock the ball into touch so that the player is helped.