Image courtesy of Alliance Football Club on Unsplash
Did you know that when in captivity, octopi will get bored if they aren’t provided with enough activities or puzzles? And when they are bored, they get depressed and sometimes begin to eat their own arms. Kids are very similar, except for the arm thing. It is said that kids need around 60 minutes of exercise every day. This will help them to develop healthy bones, muscles, joints, lungs, and a healthy heart. But it is also helpful in lowering the chance of anxiety and depression. This is why it is so important for children to be active and why sports facilities are so beneficial for children in a community. In this article, I will be going over some of the main benefits that a youth sports complex or recreation center can have on the kids in a community.
Physical Health
It is no secret that playing sports and keeping an active lifestyle are good for your physical health, but some of the benefits provided aren’t so obvious. Regular physical activity has been found to help improve and subsequently maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints while helping to control weight and reduce fat. Regular activity has also been linked to the prevention or delaying of high blood pressure and is considered to be as effective at preventing chronic conditions as some medications. The physical health benefits of regular activity are massively impactful for kids since they are in their developmental stage, and by introducing them to an active lifestyle, you increase the likelihood that they will continue to remain active throughout their life. According to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, kids who play sports are eight times as likely to be active in early adulthood as kids who didn’t play sports. So, while the health benefits that come with an active lifestyle are great for any age, the impact it has on a child’s future shows the importance of getting them active as early as possible.
Mental Health
Society has been paying much closer attention to the importance of mental health in recent years. And with the increased focus on mental health, there have also been more in-depth studies conducted on the impact that physical activity can have on a person’s mental health. Studies have found there to be a strong correlation between physical activity and improved cognition, which includes attention, memory, and processing speed. This, in turn, improves test scores on academic achievement tests and neuropsychological tests. There is also a strong correlation between kids that participate in regular physical activity and lower incidences of anxiety and depression. The lower percentage of anxiety and depression reported may also be because physical activity has been shown to reduce stress and increase confidence.
Social Health
Social health usually isn’t considered to be quite as important as physical and mental health, but it can provide kids with skills that are useful and desirable when they become adults. Research has found that kids who participate in sports are able to improve their personal and social responsibility, social skills, teamwork, and self-control because they are subconsciously practicing in those areas whenever they practice or play as a team. It was also found that kids who participated in sports tended to reach higher levels of academic achievement and exhibit qualities associated with great leadership. While your main reason for getting your kid to play a sport might be to get them out of your hair for an hour, you can rest easy knowing that you are also improving their health and preparing them for the future.
If you want to bring some of these amazing benefits into your community but you want something nicer than a large pile of sand to accomplish the task, then we can help with that. Here at the Sports Facilities Companies, we have a team of experts with the experience and knowledge to help you bring an amazing sports facility to your community. If you are interested or have any questions, then feel free to contact us or give us a call at 727-474-3845.
