Youth Sport As A Prescription for Better Mental Health?
As the world grapples with a mental health crisis, a natural solution sits right in front of us for the taking.
We are experiencing a mental health crisis that impacts youth as much as it does adults. In fact, many mental health issues show symptoms prior to 18 years of age.(1)
Welcome to edition 195 of The Physical Movement.
In much of the world, the time change hits March 12, removing an hour of sleep in exchange for an extra hour of daylight. The later daylight represents Spring, sunshine and warmer weather in our northern climates. The losing an hour sleep however represents more fatigue, less patience, perhaps more stress and amplifies mental health disorders.
The world is currently grappling with a mental health crisis, with millions of people reporting depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
The statistics are staggering.
About 1 in 3 Canadians will experience mental health disorder in their lifetime.
Recent Australian estimates predict up to 50% of people there will experience a mental health disorder.
In the USA, the latest numbers indicate at least 1 in 5 Americans suffer from mental illness. 90% of Americans feel that mental health disorders are at crisis levels.
How does mental illness impact youth?
When it comes to mental illness, youth is a critical period: most people living with a mental illness see their symptoms begin before age 18.[1]
Approximately 20% of Canadian youth are affected by a mental illness or disorder[2]
In 2011, 11% of 15-24 year olds reported experiencing depression .[3)
Between 2008–2009 and 2018–2019, among youth there was a 61% increase in emergency department visits and a 60% increase in hospitalizations for mental disorders. [4]
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults between 15-34 years.[5]
In Canada, only 1 out of 5 children receive appropriate mental health services.[6]
Could youth sport provide a solution to a crisis?
The benefits coming from regular physical activity?
A recent article caught my eye.
Review of 1,039 studies indicates exercise can be more effective than counselling or medication for depression.
A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed more than 1,000 research trials examining the effects of physical activity on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. It showed exercise is an effective way to treat mental health issues – and can be even more effective than medication or counselling.
Recent research on the link between physical activity and depression risk in adults has suggested that exercise may offset the genetic tendency toward depression. Adults with genetic risks who exercised regularly were no more likely to develop depression than those without the genetic propensity.
There’s good evidence that this same association holds in adolescents, a group with a generally high risk of depression, and with concerningly high suicide rates. But adolescence is also a time when physical activity often becomes less common, especially among girls.
Even light physical activity among adolescents (3 hours per week) was linked to better mental health as they got older, new research shows. A prospective study published in the March issue of the journal The Lancet Psychiatry found that light activity — and a corresponding decrease in the amount of time that kids spent being sedentary — was linked to better mental health as they got older.
The NY Times published an article a couple of years ago outlining the benefits of exercise on mental health and specifically mentioned sport participation as an added tool to assist.
From the article:
Elaine McMahon, a research fellow at the National Suicide Research Foundation and the School of Public Health, University College Cork in Ireland, was the lead author on a 2017 study coming out of a large research project on European adolescents.
They studied more than 11,000 13- to 15-year-olds in 10 countries, and found that only 13.6 percent of them met the recommended guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day.
There was a clear association between more frequent physical activity and lower levels of depression and anxiety, but the most significant difference was between the least active group (active for 60 minutes or more on zero to three of the past 14 days) and the somewhat active group (four to seven of the past 14 days). The most active group (eight to 14 of the past 14 days) had the highest levels of well-being and the lowest levels of depression and anxiety, though within that group, daily activity conferred no special benefit.
The study also found that being on a sports team was associated with an extra improvement in mental health, beyond what was associated with the physical activity — and it was particularly strong for girls.
How can we help?
We have never seen an mental health crisis like the one we are experiencing now. We all have a role to play in caring for ourselves as adults and for the next generations.
If we, as parents, coaches, volunteers and administrators want to help with the mental health crisis, we can get back to basics with the promotion of regular movement in our practices and games in youth sport.
Parents:
Play with your kids. From a very young age, experience movement with them. Outdoor activities, kicking and throwing balls, skating, skiing, swimming. Any activity you try with them can spark a lifetime of love of play.
Coaches:
· Be role models. Get involved with the practices. Even at the elite level, it has an impact, check this out.
· Build lots of movement into your practices and teach a proper warmup.
· Encourage practice, play and fun.
· Encourage playing multiple sports,
Officials and volunteers:
Remember the most important thing in youth sport: developing a love of play in our kids. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.
Lifelong love of PLAYING:
Speaking of developing a lifelong love of play, have a look at these stories about adults playing well into their older years. Most of these passions for play later in life were fostered by youth sport experiences.
So while we can lead our youth, we also must care for ourselves. To this day one of the most fun things I do is play weekly pick up hockey with my son and his college buddies. The fact that I can is a blessing. The time together a joy, and that it happens through physical activity is an unbelievable bonus.
Following the World Baseball Classic? You will like this story of a 46 year old participant.
49 year old college football player? https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/09/15/ruschel-north-dakota-college-football/
89 year old hockey player says we get old because we stop playing!
Women’s hockey for those 55+? Yes! https://hockeyinsociety.com/2018/09/24/guest-post-womens-ice-hockey-finally-included-in-british-columbia-55-games/
Mental health references cited earlier:
[1] https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/what-we-do/children-and-youth
[2] https://www.cihi.ca/en/child-and-youth-mental-health-in-canada-infographic
[3] Stats Canada, Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Canadians aged 15-24.
[4] https://www.cihi.ca/en/child-and-youth-mental-health-in-canada-infographic
[5] https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/healthy-living/suicide-canada-key-statistics-infographic.html
[6] https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/what-we-do/children-and-youth