WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF PLAYING BASKETBALL?
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF PLAYING BASKETBALL:
Basketball is among the most common sports in modern times. It was invented in 1891 by James Naismith invented the game in 1891 and introduced it as a program in physical education for students to play indoors during winter. This shows that basketball was initially meant to be a physical exercise. However, you already know the impact physical processes such as yoga, jogging, running, stretching, etc. do to a human’s body.
The benefits of exercises are far-reaching. If it weren't for such activities, some of us would be long gone from lifestyle diseases. Some would be bedridden due to weight complications and related problems.
This is why basketball is not viewed as only a profession that earns players handsomely, but also leeway for getting people fit and healthy. This article, therefore, focuses on the benefits the game has on people. To some, playing is fulfilling. To others, it is life-saving. Let us delve into it shortly.
Scoring involves carrying the ball and making a basket. Getting the ball into the basket involves running, dribbling, dunking, passing, and shooting. Here is an overview of how beneficial the game is to players.
You can categorize the benefits into three: physical, which includes improving cardiovascular health, burning calories, boosting the immunity system, and strengthening of bones. Second is mental benefits, including lowering stress levels and developing self-confidence.
The third is social, which includes developing communication skills, encouraging team spirit, and building a societal bond that brings people together – enhancing the peace and well-being of other people. Here are some of the benefits that accrue to a basketball player:
BURNS CALORIES
Basketball is a safe method of losing weight; it requires the whole body in action, making you do a full exercise. To reach the basket, you have to run and find a way between opponent players. It involves a lot of moves, hand movements, slowing, accelerating, etc. Even before playing, one does a lot of exercises like intense cardio to be fit and prevent injuries like ankle sprays, or muscle pull.
In addition to burning calories, it improves body composition in that your body fat reduces and have a lean body mass. It reduces the cholesterol levels in your body, which end up clogging the heart.
There are two types of cholesterol, bad, and good. Playing reduces the bad cholesterol (LDL) in your body and maintains good cholesterol at the correct levels. A player becomes more fit and flexible than before. Being fit prevents certain health conditions like blood pressure, stroke, heart failure, and diabetes.
CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
Playing basketball involves jumping and running, all of which increase the heart rate while playing, improving your cardiovascular health. When in the court playing, there is no resting, your body is moving every time making your heart beat faster.
It reduces the chances of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and heart valve problems. These diseases occur because of high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, etc.
Basketball reduces hypertension since it is an active sport; it strengthens the heart and increases breathing rate of breathing. Basketball makes the heart pump more blood with less effort, thereby decreasing the force on your arteries.
Basketball reduces the chances of a heart attack because it might increase the number of smaller blood vessels connected to various coronary arteries, called collateral blood vessels. In case a main coronary artery is blocked, the collateral blood vessels will provide an alternate route to supply blood to a heart muscle threatened by a heart attack.
STRENGTHENS BONES
Basketball helps the bones by strengthening and increasing bone density at different stages of life. For children, basketball helps stimulate cells in the bone to become stronger. The exercises like jumping and running help in bone structure, density, and strength.
While for adults, basketball maintains the bones' strength. Bones are made up of active tissue; they adapt to physical activities. Being inactive reduce bone density as there is no stress on them. If not used efficiently, hence the body decreases it.
There are no hard exercises to strengthen the bones while being inactive. Bone loss leads to the frequent breaking of bones and weak bones, reducing mobility, especially in the elderly stages. You should exercise your bones in the early stages of life to remain healthy when you can't do strenuous activities.
PROVIDES STRENGTH TRAINING
Basketball requires strength and endurance. You equally need skills like dribbling, dunking, and many more to perfect in the game. Moreover, you need to have strong muscles to carry you around without fatigue to achieve your game’s set goals.
Your whole body is involved while playing the leg muscles need to be robust for running and jumping; the back and shoulder muscles will help in dunking and blocking opposition balls. Playing basketball, along with other exercises, increase muscle strength. It increases muscle endurance, allowing you not to tire quickly and can play for long hours without putting much strain on the muscles.
Strengthening of the muscles helps in doing day to day activities as it increases energy and performance. It also reduces the chances of tendon and joint injuries.
BOOSTS IMMUNE SYSTEM
Basketball improves your immune system, which in turn improves your health. A healthy immune system makes you not be susceptible to diseases like common cold or flu. By playing basketball often, you increase blood flow, which helps clear bacteria from the lungs and airways. White blood cells get the necessary boost to fight diseases.
Exercises Improve the body’s metabolism. Several processes take place simultaneously leading to consumption of more energy, releasing of body wastes faster, and increase in temperatures helps to regulate the bacterial population. It is through such processes that one’s body maintains its fitness, and is ready to fight infections and pathogens.
COORDINATION AND MOTOR SKILLS
Coordination is the ability of a person to handle different things simultaneously. For example, juggling a ball, the juggler has to be attentive to the balls’ movement and his or her hands—basketball aids in better coordination and motor skills to adults and children.
When playing basketball, you use different parts of your body to play like running while dribbling the ball. It reduces the chances of injuries like falling while walking, and it also increases your body's energy levels.
Motor skills involve the movement of muscles and hand-eye movement like catching a ball where the eyes direct your hands to catch the ball. For children, basketball will help in bettering their motor skills faster and learn to multitask. For adults who mostly trip or are slow in doing two things at a time, playing basketball will help.
AWARENESS OF SPACE AND BODY
With basketball, you have to be aware of your surroundings, the opponents, and your team. Similar to that awareness occurs in our day to day lives, it prevents us from injuries or hitting other people while walking.
You become aware of your surroundings and be more attentive. Through being mindful, you judge things and situations correctly. Basketball also exercises the mind and muscles. It trains both of them in making better decisions like shooting the ball. Your brain will determine the correct distance and coordinate the muscle with how much energy the hands will use to throw the ball.
LOWERS STRESS
While exercising, the brain usually releases endorphins, which are the brain's feel-good hormones or happiness hormones. They reduce pain, boost your mood, and promote relaxation. Playing will reduce stress levels and makes you not think about the issues affecting your life.
Being stressed affects your body’s immunity, heart’s health, and hypertension. Basketball can reduce all those issues, including stress, by killing two birds with one stone. Playing is tiring, and you sweat a lot, so at night, your body and muscles will be so tired.
After having a shower, you will want to retire to bed and get a good night’s sleep. If your sleep is usually disrupted by anxiety or stress, consider playing basketball, you will see your sleep improve.
Choosing to play basketball in the gym, or community centre will expose you to different people and their issues such that it reduces your stress or anxiety.
DEVELOPS SELF-CONFIDENCE
Playing basketball involves working with a team, and in the process, you discover your voice and leadership skills. In basketball, you play to a broad audience who is cheering, and there is a lot of pressure involved. Experiencing that will boost your confidence skills and manage to be in front of people differently.
You also learn the areas that need improvement in your character and your playing style. Once you have improved and gained success in the court, your confidence levels increase because you feel that you have achieved some greatness, which reciprocates to other parts of your life.
ENCOURAGES TEAM SPIRIT
A basketball team comprises of 5 players. Each team fields at least ten players, including substitution bench. Generally, a matchday squad entails a full collection of players, managers, fitness coaches, etc. It takes the whole team to win a game. Unless your team blends well, it would be futile trying to beat an opponent.
This is why gelling individual players to build a team is essential in fielding a competitive side. The manager is expected to encourage, connect, and motivate the players. They also often do this to each other - this builds relationships outside the court.
In your tough times, the team will be there to show moral, material and emotional support. They help in filling the gap, enhancing fast recovery and feeling less lonely. Building a strong relationship between team members develops trust and encourages team spirit.
DEVELOPS COMMUNICATION SKILLS
As a basketball player, you get to network with different people in the industry like coaches, basketball scouts, managers, and other players. You develop communication skills in the process together with negotiation skills. If you were a poor communicator or had poor interaction skills, basketball will help in making friends.
You also learn how other team members reply to specific questions and how they communicate with other people. The positive communication skills will create better opportunities for your career that will come in handy while negotiating for a better deal in the franchise you are in.
Transitioning from college to the NBA is rather challenging if you don’t get the right people around you. Therefore, you need to handle the process by yourself. Without the necessary skills such as communication, you need to brace yourself for a tumultuous journey.
DEVELOP SELF-DISCIPLINE AND CONCENTRATION
To be a good basketball player, you need to have self-discipline, which is the ability to control your habits and feeling to achieve specific goals in your life. As a basketball player, you have to train regularly even in days where you don’t feel like it. You equally need to observe correct dietary plans. This is the amount of discipline that you need to impart in yourself.
In the court, you concentrate on winning the game and avoid inevitable distractions like family issues or work and your emotions. Learning to focus on the court improves your ability to focus on the essential things that matter in your life. Incorporating self-discipline and concentration improves your mental health by creating a routine that you follow no matter what happens.
They also help you achieve greater things in life, like your success in your basketball career. Talent is not the only thing that matters to succeed in your basketball career but also has the self-discipline.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Basketball is fun; you get to play with friends or have it as your career and earn money from what you love. Doing a job that you love with passion produces excellent results, and that is why some basketball players are productive because they were not forced into the sport.
Apart from having fun, basketball comes with additional benefits like physical, social, and mental benefits. For example, you boost the immune system, developing communication skills, burning calories, and many more.
People of different life stages can play; it is better to start playing early; that is why children are encouraged to begin as soon as they can throw the ball around. With the game suspended to deal with the pandemic, it is certainly everyone’s wish for NBA to resume.
