5 Benefits of Team Sports for Adults
When there is a mention of exercise and working out, many people think about time in the gym and fitness center. While this also provides an excellent way to work out, there are incredible benefits of exercising as a team, especially for adults and seniors.
From football to water polo to hockey to paintball, there are various forms of workout that one can perform in a group. The benefits encompass physical and mental health in ways that non-group exercise cannot match up with.
Back in college, team sport was considered essential and crucial to character development in kids. Indeed group sports like volleyball, soccer, etc., provided a means to bond with fellow students and instilled life skills in them that became applicable even years down the line.
However, seniors can also get impressive benefits from considering group sports. Here are worthy reasons why team sports make sense for seniors:
Helps You Spend time with Your Family
Have you been thinking about how to spend quality time with your kids? Team sports might be what you need. It presents the perfect opportunity for families to spend time together in something fun that everyone will enjoy. This gives the ideal opportunity to build and have an iron-clad relationship with your kids.
The emphasis is not on the sport, so it does not matter if any parties do not like the sport. The time spent together, the joy of everyone sweating and the spirit of sportsmanship, etc., are enough to keep everyone’s energy up and in the game. Besides, there are tons of fun team sport like paintball, soccer, volleyball, tug of war, etc., so it can be easy for you to get a sport that everyone likes.
Adults who need to use the restroom can consider using adult briefs to avoid incessant breaks while having the sport.
Developing Social Skills
Team sport is played with other people, so one must develop a good relationship with fellow team members. As a result, team sport presents a perfect opportunity for people, especially seniors, to build their social skills. As they grow old, many adults are usually alone, but group sport presents the perfect opportunity to interact and relate with others.
Interacting with other people plays a critical role in developing mental health. According to studies, interacting with other people can severely reduce the risk of anxiety and depression. It presents the perfect opportunity to go out, forces you to meet people, and develop a relationship with them that might exceed beyond the sports field.
When you interact with others through team sports, you develop various social skills like patience, encouraging and praising others, accepting differences, loyalty, conflict resolution, asking for help without feeling somehow, good manners, compromising, and many others.
In addition to developing various social skills, team sport also adds diversity to one’s social life. People communicate and interact with multiple strangers at the sports centre. With new friends, your life experiences a boost. It is an incredible incentive for adults to know they can meet various people who share a common goal. Group sport boosts motivation, and you enjoy a surge of the hormone oxytocin, which improves anxiety and makes them relax.
Photo by Luis Quintero from Pexels
The Benefit to Mental Health
Without a doubt, mental health benefits incredibly from a team sport. Besides making it possible to enjoy the benefit of socialization, it can also significantly bring down the stress hormone in the body. Irrespective of who won or lost, team exercise can foster the release of endorphin, making you feel good, improving your mood, boosting relaxation, and making you happy overall.
There have been scientific researches to support the effectiveness of team sport in improving mental health. It is said that people who took part in group sport settings like clubs have upgraded mental health and overall satisfaction with life, compared to people who preferred gym exercised or solo workouts.
You also get an improved overall satisfaction with life. According to a study, physical activities done in a group can boost overall satisfaction with life. The sense of belonging that you get from being part of something bigger than yourself might be part of the reason. When you interact with others, you enjoy a strong sense of identity, which boosts happiness.
Photo by Elina Fairytale from Pexels
Impressive Weekly Commitments
With bills to pay, obligations to meet, and many life demands, many adults hardly have time for fun and other relaxing activities. They are held up in a vicious cycle of trying to make ends meet, with little or no real-time for themselves and something fun.
Team sports provide the perfect channel to escape the daily pressures of life. It can provide a natural way to relieve stress and take a break from being an adult. A commitment that doesn’t involve work, paying bills, family pressure, and something you get to do on your term can relieve many adults.
Having a fixed event to look forward to can be exciting for an adult. Many people value the tradition that is not linked to work or family. The opportunity to do something to improve yourself can be the highlight of your week when it indeed becomes part of your schedule.
Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Many adults are frustrated with excess body fat that lurks around various places in their bodies. As a result, type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure seems to be the order of the day for people in this age category. Taking part in sports, especially group sports, can effectively keep such excess weight off.
Diet and workouts play a vital role in keeping a healthy body weight. People gain weight when their body system is in a calorie surplus state, without any means to burn off the excess calories. Group exercise and other physical activities provide the perfect channel to burn off such extra calories.
Many adults, however, hardly get to dedicate enough time to work out due to varying schedules. Team sports provide a moderate form of aerobic activities, which can help burn fat. Not only will this maintain weight, but it will also go a long way to keep excess weight off.
Photo by RUN 4 FFWPU from Pexels
Conclusion
General physical activities come with impressive benefits for everyone, including adults. However, seniors have a lot to gain from dedicating time to team sports activities and playing in groups.
This article has explored various ways seniors can benefit from taking part in team sports.