Why are athletes less likely to experience mental disorders?

Why are athletes less likely to experience mental health disorders?

Athletes experience anxiety 60% less often than those with sedentary lifestyles.

About 10% of people around the world live with anxiety disorders. Scientists attribute this to poor physical development. Those who lead a healthy lifestyle have much better mental health, they say. Here’s why.

Ph.D., founder and trainer of ERA club

Regular exercise improves mental health.

But during the observations, scientists noticed one peculiarity: fast skiers suffered from anxiety disorders more often than those who occupied the second half of the finishing protocol. But in men such a dependence was not observed. Most likely, this is due to the fact that female skiers competed and worried about their results. But it is quite possible that this is why they run fast – because of excitement for the result.

In another study, scientists looked at the frequency of vascular dementia (dementia caused by atherosclerotic lesions in the brain vessels) in Vasaloppet participants. As it turned out, the manifestations of dementia among them almost did not occur. Moreover, those skiers who reached the final faster than average had even lower risk of dementia.

Alexander: Apparently, adaptive changes that occur in the body during endurance training, protect the brain vessels from atherosclerosis. And it is the cause of vascular dementia. That is, endurance sports not only bring pleasure, but also protect against dementia, which catches up with people of mature and elderly age. But this does not apply to all diseases. For example, Alzheimer’s, the second most common cause of dementia, can catch up with everyone. Because the mechanisms of development of this disease are not related to changes in the brain vessels and training does not affect them.

Alexander: Professional athletes are more prone to depression, and therefore they often resort to the help of a sports psychologist. But if you exercise for pleasure, the exercise itself will help your brain and psyche. This is especially true for activities involving prolonged rapid breathing, which actively oxygenates the body.