The old Latin proverb teaches us that a healthy body is the home of a healthy spirit. The road to a healthy body is paved with physical activity and regulated diet, which is the trademark of every dedicated athlete. It’s a common misconception that athletes and people who do well in sports during college aren’t the most achieving academics, however, did you know that J.R.R Tolkien was an excellent rugby player during his Oxford days? There are many other interesting examples of acclaimed scholars who did great both in class and on the pitch, supporting the claim that sports and academics go hand by hand.
In our current article, we’ll dig into the influence of sports on our ability to achieve high scores and solve intellectual problems.
Sports build dedication and self-esteem
There’s no such thing as master of all trades, no matter how wide the spectrum of our interests and talents might be. Even the aptest students find some subjects more challenging than others. This is where dedication and discipline come helpful because without a strict study regime there’s a chance for the material to pile up to a point where deadlines could not be reached. One can always hire Edubirdie or a similar assignment writing service to take the load off but working on your willpower helps to reduce the amount of work you need to outsource.
Rakesh Ghildiyal, professor of psychology at MGM Medical College in India, issued a paper that illustrates how sports influence academic performance mentioning, along with other aspects, the influence of competitive activities on character building and dedication.
In his study, professor Ghildiyal explains how the will to complete a certain task is best built through sports, where athletes keep on trying to achieve a certain goal disregarding the number of attempts it takes to succeed. Take soccer as an example, it’s known that Cristiano Ronaldo, currently the best soccer player in the world, practices his shot for hours after the rest of the team has left the training pitch. Dedication builds excellence and once we know we did our best to master a certain skill or subject, we feel more confident when we deal with similar challenges.
Improved cognitive functions
In all sporting activities, especially those that include a large number of players in the field, it’s imperative to stay alert, handle changing situations, and process numerous variables such as the movement of other players, ball trajectory, and multiple other aspects of the game we can’t control. All these traits can come extremely useful to the benefit of our academic performance, as well.
Handling multiple assignments, paying attention to details, and focusing on the lecture during the class are all aspects of our brain’s cognitive functioning. Although science shows that these skills are the best thought at an early age, there are also numerous pieces of evidence that sports help improve these functions. While I was working as a writer at Edubirdie assignment writing service, I had to manage multiple projects and focus on details to make sure every piece of content is free of mistakes.
A short walk outside would help me get back to work refreshed and able to focus on my job even after many hours of work. The reason for this mental restart lies in the amount of oxygen I brought into my brain after taking a walk. Regular sporting activities enhance the volume of the oxygen we introduce into our system, which gives our brain the power to work properly and control our learning process with less stress.
A study conducted at the University of Columbia examined the connection between aerobic and resistance training to the growth of the hippocampus. The part of our brain which is assigned with learning and memory. The team of scientists behind the project proved that these two forms of exercise practiced regularly by professional athletes have an enormous influence on the increase in hippocampus volume.
To test their hypothesis, the scientists at the University of Columbia run a series of tests aimed at the participants’ verbal memory and learning. Test subjects had to go through a regime of physical exercises after which their memory was tested. The test included a series of 15 phrases that subjects had to memorize and recall as many as they can. The results have shown that after a while, the people included in the study were able to recall more phrases as their physical training routine advanced.
Improved teamwork abilities
Some people find it hard to cooperate with others, which is all but helpful when one needs to collaborate with fellow students while working on a group task. Even though humans are encouraged to build their individuality, we are, after all, social creatures and need to work with others in all aspects of our lives. Team sports build the spirit of comradery and help us put the group in front of our aspirations.
One of the first things we learn in team sports is to play with others, help our teammates, and trust that the rest of the team is doing the same with us. Consider a football team, to make his pass, the quarterback is guarded by his teammates and he needs to be sure that he is well-protected so he could be focused on doing a good job. The same goes with collaborative projects in school, we have to build a firm connection with our fellow students and work as a team to a mutual benefit.
Conclusion
These were only a few of the multitude of benefits that sports bring to our academic performance potential. Taking part in a certain sporting activity helps us grow as a person and builds our self-esteem but also improves our overall physical health. The most important element of sports, as well as academics, is not to get carried away by success and think that either one of us is more important than the rest of the crew that took part in our effort.
Author bio:
Joshua Robinson is a freelance content writer engaged with a series of online publishers. His work is focused on college lifestyle, health, psychology, and learning. As a writer, Joshua aims to deliver practical pieces of advice that bring value to his audience.