The 4 Benefits Of Sports Psychology On Psychological Well-being
Sport and the psychological variables that influence it improving or worsening their performance has been a topic of study of great interest during the last decades. All of this, framed within the discovery and development of positive psychology, has led different researchers to consider which factors are closely related to psychological well-being in athletes and what their benefits are.
In this article we will review the benefits that sports practice brings to psychological well-being together with the team UPAD Psychology and Coaching one of the best sports psychology centers in the Community of Madrid and our country.
Positive psychology aims to integrate all those concepts related to well-being, happiness and the most optimistic approaches of the human mind to enhance personal development , among other things. It is within this current where the concept of psychological well-being takes shape.
Psychological well-being is a set of variables that encompass different aspects of our life and the degree of satisfaction with them. Terms such as Self-Acceptance, Positive Relationships, Autonomy, Mastery of the EnvironmentPurpose in Life and Personal growth are some concepts that are of great importance in personal well-being.
Along these lines, different studies show that people perceive themselves as reasonably happy regardless of their age, sex or culture, valuing the sources of happiness in a very similar way. Feeling happy is more adaptive when it comes to facing and overcoming adversities that arise throughout life.
In the sports field, research focused on finding the relationship between sports activity and psychological well-being is becoming more popular every day. At early ages such as adolescence, where it is very important to generate healthy lifestyle habits, including sports, results have been obtained that contribute to reinforcing the importance of adopting these active lifestyles since these are positively related to different factors that increase psychological well-being, such as self-esteem, perception of health and overall life satisfaction.
The result of this type of study leads us to affirm that Psychological well-being is associated with the practice of physical activity Among other aspects, people who regularly engage in physical exercise perceive themselves to be healthier, with less stress and have a better mood than those who do not engage in any type of physical activity.
The effect of sport on psychological well-being
The most popular variables that are closely related between sport and psychological well-being are: cognition, coping, positive affect and self-efficacy, and those people who do sports activity tend to have better results in all of them.
Each of them is explained in more detail below:
1. Cognition
The way we see and understand the world, the ideas, thoughts and beliefs we have about ourselves and everything around us is closely related to our well-being. Through sports at an early age the intellectual development of the child can be enhanced and it is even proven that performing very brief but intense physical exercises presents an improvement in your mental abilities such as attention.
It has been shown that those people with high psychological well-being use problem- and emotion-oriented coping strategies versus those who show low well-being, who have a more passive way of coping focused on avoidance. All of this has to do with the role we take when facing a situation or problem.
We have two options: assume our responsibility in the situation and improve everything in our power or run away from the problem, hold others responsible for everything and come out successful. From both options we will obtain very valuable learning that can improve or hinder our standard of living by giving us more or less decision-making capacity and autonomy.
3. Positive affect
The quality of our personal relationships will be a determining factor in our assessment of life satisfaction. Sport, and more specifically that which is developed in teams, encourages the construction of a broader social environment in which share emotions, thoughts and sensations especially in stages of development, where the social circle is of vital importance.
4. Self-efficacy
It is defined as beliefs in one’s ability to organize and execute required actions and to handle future situations. If we believe we can reach a goal, we will find the resources to achieve it.
Sports Psychology is a promising field
The new fields of psychology in which positive psychology is found are providing new visions and lines of research in different areas. Within sport, in recent decades the use of concepts related to positive emotions resilience and ultimately the positive perception of events, at first glance negative (such as an injury), from which to obtain a personal experience to learn and that helps us obtain the desired well-being.
Obtain and maintain psychological well-being through the reinterpretation of situations, positive evaluations and generation of emotions that favor it is one of the functions of sports psychology at this time.
If you are looking to optimize your levels of personal well-being through sport, you can find more information on the UPAD Psychology and Coaching website where you will find great professionals in Sports Psychology.
