Being Active Is The Best Way For Students To Feel Good

You are down to the final minutes in the game. You can see the finish line at the end of the race. The curtains are about to open. You are so focused you can hardly hear the crowd of supporters cheering you on.
All of these circumstances create a natural high of hormones as a surge of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins pass through your body. These hormones all share the nickname of the “feel good” chemicals. When your body produces them, they will boost your mood and help lower your stress levels.
Playing sports and doing extra curriculars in high school may seem like too much to add to a heavy schedule, but really, they will help you. Sports and other activities help you feel more motivated in school, help with your mental health, and put you in a supportive community where it is easier to make friends.
In sports, when you have to go to practice every day and work hard towards your goals, it helps build a strong work ethic. This skill is then translated into your schoolwork. Student athletes tend to perform better on exams and get better grades. The National Athletic Trainers Association found that students who do sports earn up to 40% higher test scores.
Assistant principal Ben Jones, who formerly coached football, believes that sports and clubs have many benefits to students.
“I think getting more involved in the school helps a student to feel like they belong and that can oftentimes help with their academic performance,” Jones said.
Along with your grades, sports strongly contribute to positive mental health. It is no secret that many high schoolers struggle with their mental health at some point. Two of the most prominent struggles in teens are anxiety and depression. Newport Academy found that continued participation in sports has proved to be just as effective as talking medication to tackle these issues.
So much joy can be brought to your life if you have strong and positive relationships with people your age. It can be intimidating to make new friends during school especially as a freshman. People already have their cliques and don’t always want to expand their circle. Sports create an environment where it is much easier to make friends and meet people that you normally wouldn’t encounter. This is good life training for when teens enter the work force and are expected to work with a variety of people.
Many teams create bonds that are not easily broken. When you have a supportive and kind community a sense of belonging is created. You experience a range of emotions with your teammates that help create a strong bond.
Not all students have a reliable and responsible adult in their world. Coaches can help play that role for students. They can help encourage communication and collaboration as well as modeling life lessons that can impact students for their whole lives. Students can create an emotional connection to their coaches as well creating a safe environment for students to be themselves.
There are so many benefits to sports but other non-athletic extracurriculars can have a similar positive effect on students.
Some students can not physically do sports but there are other options for them. Most schools have a wide variety of clubs that students can create or join. This allows them to do something they love with people who have the same interests and also build community.
Whether students participate in theater, chess club, environmental club, or anything else, they are gaining valuable life skills. When you work with a group of people you have to compromise and learn how to work with everyone. If you take on a leadership role, you will learn how to work with people and how to lead a large group. These crucial skills will help set you up for success in later life experiences.
When you are constantly working with people you create connections. Just like in sports you will create positive relationships with your peers and most likely make new friends. Many clubs are made up of a diverse group of students encouraging friendships that may not have started otherwise.
These interactions can help boost student’s social skills and help with their overall development. By boosting student’s social skills, it will also contribute to confidence. Confidence and social skills go hand in hand and effect each other greatly. When someone has high confidence, they are more likely to take risks and ask questions in their schoolwork leading to better scores.
Many students believe that the best way to get through high school is to spend as little time at school as possible. By doing this, students are cutting themselves off from so many opportunities and benefits that will help them be successful students, enrich themselves, and thrive in life.
“I just think it makes the high school experience so much better,” Jones said.