Health Benefits to Sports

Health Benefits to Sports

Health and fitness benefits to sports participation

Jessica Jay, 1997, Judicial Law Clerk, The Honorable Peter H. Ney, Colorado Court of Appeals; J.D., Vermont Law School, 1997; M.S.E.L., Vermont Law School, 1998; A.B. Bowdoin College, 1992. Special thanks to Professor Susan Apel for her guidance and to my colleagues in "Women and the Law." Texas Journal of Women & the Law, Women's Participation in Sports: Four Feminist Perspectives, p. 10-11

In America's health-obsessed culture, one theory seems indisputable: physical activity in one form or another, performed on a regular basis, leads to good health and physical fitness. Therefore, it is logical to assume that sports requiring physical activity in one form or another, performed on a regular basis, also lead to good health and fitness in the girls and women who partake of them. The support from the medical community for this theory is substantial.

In a study conducted to determine whether women aged forty or younger who regularly participated in physical exercise activities during their reproductive years had a reduced risk of breast cancer, it was concluded that one to three hours of exercise a week over a woman's reproductive lifetime (from the teens to about age forty) could cause a twenty to thirty percent reduction in her risk of breast cancer, and four or more hours of exercise a week could reduce that risk by more than fifty percent. The study further suggested that if a girl starts participating in sports when she is young and continues into adulthood, she may also lower her chances of pre-menopausal breast cancer. The results of the study indicate that implementation of a regular physical exercise program is a critical component of a healthy lifestyle and should be a high priority for adolescent and adult women.

In a study designed to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular disease among exercising versus non-exercising women, women who exercised were found to weigh less, and had lower levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides, and lower blood pressure than non-exercising women. Exercisers reported being happier, believed they had more energy, and felt they were in excellent health more often than non-exercising women. Exercisers also missed fewer days of work.

Studies have also shown that physical activity reduces the risk of osteoporosis. The National Institute of Health reports that one out of every four women over sixty has osteoporosis (loss of bone mass). There is substantial evidence that weight-bearing exercises such as walking and running can lead to increased bone mass, which in turn combats osteoporosis.

Unfortunately, when there is little or no participation in sports or physical activity, weight increase follows. Over a fifteen year period, levels of obesity among children have risen by fifty-four percent and among adolescents by thirty-nine percent, and a general decline in physical activity was cited as a contributing factor. Today, it is probable that as many as twenty-five percent or more of children and thirty percent or more of adults in the United States are obese. According to one report, obesity has rapidly increased among youth in the United States in recent years, particularly among school-aged children. In many cases, the combination of diet and exercise has been shown to be superior to diet alone in treating such widespread obesity in children. However, a 1990 United States Department of Health and Human Services study concluded that only thirty-seven percent of ninth to twelfth graders were vigorously active. Additionally, of the 11,631 students surveyed throughout the fifty states, District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, female students were considerably less active than male students.

The final health-related benefit for girls and women who participate in sports involves a decrease in unwanted pregnancies and drug use. For junior high and high school girls who participate in sports, unwanted pregnancies drop eighty-five to ninety-two percent. Similarly, girls who participate in sports are ninety percent less likely to get involved in drugs. The message here seems to imply one of two things: either (1) that foresight, integrity, or stamina, overlapping to some extent with self-esteem or some heightened form of self-awareness, is encouraged by physical activity, causing anticipation of the logical consequences of taking drugs or engaging in unprotected sex, which in turn leads to abstention from these activities in more cases than not, OR, (2) that girls participating in sports are simply too busy to be bothered with, or tempted by, these activities. Either way, these statistics imply that a healthy girl is more likely to protect her body, and furthermore, that a girl with a healthy mind is a girl with a strong mind.

Participation in sports as a form of physical activity keeps girls from such ills as unwanted pregnancies, obesity, drug use, cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. For those women who continue to exercise throughout their lifetime, their risk of cancer and osteoporosis continues to drop, as does their propensity to become obese or have high blood pressure. n65 These women also have more energy, fewer colds, and seem to feel better about themselves overall, n66 which leads to the next category of benefits derived from physical activity in sports.

Sports participation boosts self-esteem

Jessica Jay, 1997, Judicial Law Clerk, The Honorable Peter H. Ney, Colorado Court of Appeals; J.D., Vermont Law School, 1997; M.S.E.L., Vermont Law School, 1998; A.B. Bowdoin College, 1992. Special thanks to Professor Susan Apel for her guidance and to my colleagues in "Women and the Law." Texas Journal of Women & the Law, Women's Participation in Sports: Four Feminist Perspectives, p. 12-13

Self-esteem is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "a confidence and satisfaction in oneself." A sport is defined as "a combination of physical, social, and psychic stresses forming an integrated pattern to which a person responds in toto, invoking both a physiological and psychological pattern of response." In addition to the varied physical health benefits attributable to sports participation, the mind, soul, and psyche may also benefit from such participation. Success academically and professionally seems linked to self-confidence -- either as its cause or as its result. Whether success and high self-esteem are direct results of having better health, or of some more intangible cause, remain to be seen.

Doctor Mary Pipher identifies adolescence as a perilous journey for a girl during which battles for self are won or lost and which plays a part in determining the quality of her future life:

Something dramatic happens to girls in early adolescence. Just as planes and ships disappear mysteriously into the Bermuda Triangle, so do the selves of girls go down in droves. They crash and burn in a social and developmental Bermuda Triangle. In early adolescence, studies show that girls' IQ scores drop and their math and science scores plummet. They lose their resiliency and optimism and become less curious and inclined to take risks. They lose their assertive energetic and "tomboyish" personalities and become more deferential, selfcritical and depressed. They report great unhappiness with their own bodies.
During adolescence, girls' bodies begin changing in size, shape, and hormonal structure -- changes that cause them to feel, look, and move differently. In order to protect their true selves and grow into mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy women, Pipher believes that throughout this difficult period, girls need to possess "good habits for coping with stress," "a sense of purpose," "an identity based on talents or interests," and a lot of family support.

Pipher defines "strong" girls as those who value their individuality and are capable of weathering the storms of adolescence to grow into confident, healthy adult women. She posits that strong girls draw their strength from their interests and activities and points to sports as a major well-spring of strength. She believes that sports allow girls to see their bodies as functional, as opposed to decorative, teaches them discipline in the pursuit of excellence, as well as cooperation, and management of pressure in stressful situations. Pipher believes that young female athletes are emotionally healthy, and attributes this to the fact that they are members of a peer group that defines itself by athletic ability, rather than by popularity, drug or alcohol use, wealth, or appearance. Pipher's theory therefore relates to self-esteem as follows: the opportunity to act upon one's interests and abilities within the framework of sports contributes to the increase of a girl's self-esteem and provides her with the necessary tools to emerge from adolescence as a healthy, confident, and strong young woman.

Pipher is not alone in the belief that involvement in sports is intrinsic to young girls surviving adolescence and increasing self-esteem -- a number of social studies fraught with statistics support Pipher's assertions in this area. Women who were active in sports and recreational activities as girls feel greater confidence, self-esteem, and pride in their physical and social selves than those who were sedentary. Half of those women who participated in some kind of sports as girls not only experience higher than average levels of self-esteem today, but also less depression. Forty-one percent of girls' parents, participating in a study regarding the influence of parents and family factors on girls' participation in sports at a young age, said that building "confidence and self-esteem" were important benefits of their child's sports involvement. Among the potential benefits of physical activity listed by both boys and girls during a youth sports study were improved self-confidence, self-esteem, enhanced assertiveness, emotional stability, independence, and self-control.

In addition to experiencing higher self-esteem and less depression as children and adults, girls in high school who are athletes have a more positive body image than do female non-athletes, a factor particularly important to self-esteem during the adolescent years. Furthermore, non-urban high school girls who spend time participating in sports generally have higher grades and are more likely to graduate from high school than those who do not. Female student-athletes also graduate from college at a significantly higher rate than female non-athletes -- sixty-nine percent of female student-athletes graduate from college, versus fifty-eight percent of female non-athletes.

It is not difficult to envision the correlation between sports, self-esteem, and success: girls who play sports as children and throughout their adolescence grow up to be successful adults not only because they have a greater chance of graduating from high school and college, but also because they pursue and excel at competitive jobs. Eighty percent of women identified as key leaders in Fortune 500 companies participated in sports during their childhood and self-identified as having been "tomboys Additionally, some authors assert "that competitive sports supply the first stage of pre-law training," but "until recently relatively few girls got this . . . message." Because law is commonly perceived as a contest played within a very complex set of rules with clear winners and losers, not unlike any competitive sport, this metaphor seems fitting.

In a study focusing on the obstacles, benefits, and trends of participation in physical activity, ninety-eight percent of women participants said physical activity affected their mental health positively. Thirty-seven percent reported that physical activity reduced stress and promoted relaxation, and twenty-two percent said it improved their self-esteem. Further, forty percent reported that the mental benefits from physical activity were the best part of being physically active.

In a similar survey, more than ninety percent of the respondents who ran in the 1979 Nike OTC women's ten kilometer race in Eugene, Oregon, stated that running had increased their positive self-image and made them feel better about their bodies. Eighty percent felt that running had helped them deal better with stress. The study concluded that women could achieve freedom of both body and mind through sports.

It is important to inquire why these girls and women feel good about themselves. Is it merely because their physical appearance conforms to a socially constructed notion of external beauty such as thin or fit? Is it a simple chemical reaction resulting in more endorphins coursing through their veins, which causes them to feel euphoric more often than depressed? Is it because they are playing and succeeding at male games, which in turn molds them into a competitive female capable of playing and succeeding in a man's world and a man's job market? Perhaps these girls, and later women, are caught in the male model of competition and success and do not even know it. Examining sports through the following feminist perspectives sheds some light on the answers to these questions.

Sports participation has physical and psychological benefits

Scott Skinner-Thompson, 2013, is an attorney at the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney in Seattle, Washington. Ilona M. Turner is the Legal Director at Transgender Law Center, based in Oakland, California, TITLE IX'S PROTECTIONS FOR TRANSGENDER STUDENT ATHLETES, Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society

Significant research over the past half-century has demonstrated the value that participation in sports can have for young people. Numerous studies across the fields of sports medicine, psychology, human development, and public health have examined the effects of participation in youth sports. These studies confirm that youth sports participation benefits the participants in multiple ways. Physically, participation helps build bone and muscle strength, reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases, reduces the risk of obesity, and helps develop habits of exercise with long-term benefits. Psychologically, participation in sports helps promote mental health and combat anxiety and depression. In fact, sports participation can be a protective factor against adolescent suicide, which may be particularly important given the high rates of social isolation and suicide attempts among transgender youth. Sports $=P298 also provide a social support network and integration that, in turn, further enhances youth mental health.

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