Mental health has become a prevalent issue in today’s timr. The overwhelming pressure of pending tasks with deadlines creeping in, forces even the best of us to work for extended periods. Blurred boundaries between one’s personal and professional life coupled with the rising financial pressure has created a landscape where psychological strain thrives.
To counter the overwhelming stress, many adults often take shelter in the digital world. However, a feed full of brainrots often causes digital overload. Result: those doomscrolling sessions end up eating away a chunk of your bedtime while you return to your daily routine next morning with lack of recovery time. Such sedentary routines intensifies fatigue, that can rewire your cognitive and emotional patterns, and slowly but surely, you stop recognizing the distress and start acclimating.
Anxiety disorders often begin from persistent pressure from the office, lack of financial stability, or health issues, and it starts showing symptoms before you can realize. You keep on neglecting the tightness in your chest, while anxiety quietly takes a toll on your mental health. Studies show that an estimated 31% of U.S. adults suffer from some type of anxiety disorder in their lifetime.
Some mental health problems that may crop up
Mental health problems can come in different shapes and forms, and often there are clear signs that indicate a deteriorating mental health. However, with the awareness level of the current society, and a tendency to brush off the telltale signs makes people more prone to fall prey to such conditions.
Here, we will talk about some mental health problems that have become more relevant in today’s time:
- Chronic Stress Disorder: Chronic stress disorder is not a formal diagnosis, but it refers to a condition where you may feel like being stuck in combat, but without a threat. The persistent fatigue in the morning despite rest, low frustration tolerance, gastrological issues and muscle tensions, can be some of the symptoms.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder: This is a mental condition, where you worry too much about everyday life situations. While occasional nervousness about health, money, and family is normal, especially, after a major life stressor, people with GAD feel it more intensely. These feelings may lead to physical symptoms later like restlessness, instances of rapid heartbeat, headache, trembling, or sweating etc.
- Major Depressive Disorder: Clinical depression is a mood disorder that usually associates with persistent low mood or sadness. Some telltale signs of depression are loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, changes in appetite and weight, low energy, and more.
- Burnout: It’s normal to feel a little exhausted after a long day at work. However, if you are feeling like every day is a bad day, your every day routine feels mind-numbingly dull or incredibly overwhelming for quite some time, you might be en route to Burnout. Frequent illness, lowered immunity, sense of self-doubt, change in appetite etc are the common symptoms of burnout.
- Social Anxiety Disorder: Social anxiety is probably the most common mental health issue of today’s time. Social anxiety is the intense fear of being in a social situation where you might be judged or scrutinized. The avoidance of social gatherings, fear of embarrassment or humiliation, excessive self-consciousness, that we often neglect as personality issues can be the telltale signs of someone dealing with this condition.
Note that, just because you know some of the symptoms, does not mean that you can treat these conditions with remedies or regular medicines. If you are suffering from any of these symptoms, or you know someone who is, seek medical help.
Sports and how does it help people dealing with mental illness
Sports are a great way for people to participate in physical activity. Participating in organized sport can help children with their psychological, social, and physical wellbeing.
Participating in any sports helps release neurotransmitters that make you feel better. If you are in a team game, the support from peers can help build their self-esteem. Even adults who participate regularly in weekend matches may observe a sudden boost to their self-esteem.
Sports also isn’t a hunky dory experience, not always. Sometimes you may have to face disappointment and frustration. Sometimes you overhit that pass, or the ball does not connect to where you wanted to hit. Just like in life, some days, nothing clicks, and you lose the important game. However, even in those days, sports prepare you to better cope with those bad days at the office.
Different studies in different parts of the world have shown how sports have had positive effects on people suffering from mental health issues.
A study on Norwegian teenagers has shown that people who played team sports were less likely to get addicted to smoking. Studies have also shown that exercises helped improve symptoms of depression in people, and reduce risks of relapse.
However, while it may seem that sports is the answer to all your mental health related issues, remember that world famous players and athletes aren’t completely immune. While stories of the likes of David Warner after Phil Hughes’ death, or Adriano after his father’s demise manages to grab the headlines, the majority of the rest of the athletes and sports personalities often go through similar problems
Therefore if you are going through a rough patch, it is important to reach out and seek help from professionals. Reaching out won’t make you any less of a man (or woman for that matter). If anything, it will prove that you are human too.
Author Bio:
Name: Subhadip Dey
I have always felt connected to sports and my pen. Remember those kids who used to watch whatever game or match highlights are on, and knew about almost all the current affairs of all the sports they liked? Yeah that was me. I also love writing. So, here I am trying to talk about all things sports.
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