Author: Contributor

When an athlete is addicted, it can prevent them from achieving optimal performance.

An athlete might either be struggling with substance addiction like drug or alcohol addiction, or they may be struggling with some behavioral addiction like shopping, internet, video gaming, and other forms of addiction.

One of the best ways for athletes to treat addiction is to prevent it from happening in the first place. In this piece, athletes will learn how to prevent addiction and focus fully on their careers.

Learn how to manage stress

Not every athlete knows how to handle stress, and this is why some of them turn to substances or behaviors to help them feel relaxed.

When you learn how to manage stress, you will be preventing addiction by a long shot. It would be more helpful to adopt healthy habits like trying to rest, eating a healthy diet, etc so that you won’t practice unhealthy activities like substance abuse.

See a counselor for mental illness symptoms

If you feel that you are having symptoms of some mental health problems like depression and anxiety, it would be best to see a counselor or professional therapist.

When you try to handle some of these problems, you might not do it the right way. Informing a counselor about your struggles goes a long way in helping you prevent addiction.

Avoid peer pressure and temptation

Another way to prevent addiction is to stay away from people who practice unhealthy habits. For instance, when you stay around people who abuse alcohol, you might be likely to follow suit. It is preferable to have people in your circle who are advocates for healthy living.

For athletes who are already facing challenges with addictive behaviors, all hope is not lost. It is best to seek help from a reputable addiction treatment center.

Depending on the severity of your addiction, you might be able to keep receiving addiction treatment help while you still focus on your career.

Everyone needs to care for their mental health regularly if they want to record optimal performances in every aspect of their lives.

Athletes are not left out because they need to be mentally fit so that they can give their best.

It is vital not to forget that athletes are not super humans, they face the every day struggles and challenges that everyone goes through. This piece contains some steps that athletes can take to maintain a sound mental health.

Take a break when needed

If you feel that you need some time off for yourself, do not be hesitant to make this happen. Taking a break is important for athletes considering their busy schedule, which often requires them to always push hard.

When you take time off, it allows your body to recover physically and mentally. And when you come back, you will feel refreshed, recharged and stronger. Doing this will allow you to perform at your best.

Live a balanced and healthy life

Beyond being an athlete, it is important to provide balance to your life. Ensure you surround yourself with people who love and support you.  

Go on a date with your loved ones. Try to get in touch with other aspects of your life, and try not to lose identity of who you are. Eat a nutritious diet, sleep and workout regularly, and avoid substances like alcohol and drugs.

Keep in touch with a counselor

As a professional athlete who has lots of demands to meet, you need to take counseling sessions seriously. When you are going through any problem, a counselor helps you uncover the root issue, and they assist with providing an effective solution.

Set goals and be strict with them

You can also preserve your mental health by setting goals and sticking to them. If you’ve been experiencing signs of depression and anxiety, try setting mini-goals so that you can feel more motivated.

Athletes are such a wonder to behold. They cut across various sports, and we all have one or two persons who thrill us whenever we watch them perform.

Every time we watch our favorite athlete, we always expect them to perform, sometimes, better than previous performances.

However, we do not realize that, athletes have really tight schedules which they find it hard to keep up with.

A good portion of the schedule of an athlete requires him or her to either practice for long hours on end, or play/perform week in, week out.

Hence, they barely have time to rest. If they are involved in competitions, they can go week without having proper time to relax.

The major reason why athletes are being hard on themselves when it comes to practice and play is, the pressure is usually too much. People expect them to deliver mind-blowing results, without minding the input it takes to get it done.

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If an athlete does not perform up to standard, and this goes on for a long period, he or she falls out of favor with fans.

Therefore, to prevent this from happening, athletes would practice for long hours not minding the adverse detrimental effect which it has on their body.

One of the common mental health problems which athletes face is anxiety. Before a game, no matter how prepared they are, there is still a bit of anxiety they face.

They are anxious, and always hope the game turns out in their favor. If it does not, they would face backlash from their fans, and it makes them sad.

Another one is depression. This is usually the long-term end result of being sad. A depressed athlete would not be able to perform well, and this could be as a result of not performing up to expectation, which can make fans to dislike them.

Athletes need mental health counselors who they can always interact with, and pour out their mind to prior to and after each sporting event.

Making this a regular habit would prevent the athlete from under-performing, and it would keep mental health problems at bay.

Athletes are most times exposed to stress and tension due to the demanding nature of the activities they partake in. This negatively influences their psychological processes, and has an effect on how they think, behave and feel. Athlete’s sporting activities require them to be at their best at all instances, and as a result they must by all means be fit and healthy.
It is important to note that these pressures can affect an athlete’s mental health. Demands in the athletic environment are quite enormous. Daily practices, strength and training programs, traveling for various competitions, rehabilitation and treatment appointments for athletes that sustained one form of injury or the other poses a challenging schedule.
Athletes that takes part in competitions at various levels are exposed to significant amount of stressors which may increase the tendency to develop mental health issues. They face stress and pressure in competing and they are open to anxiety to win at all cost, and depression if they end up not winning.
Also, there are other challenges which they are exposed to which includes sustaining physical injuries, issues with their level of performance or relationship crisis with other teammates and coach, frequent exhaustion from the harshness of training. All these can lead to the athlete facing post traumatic health issues and also problems of depression.
One of the concerns about this issue of mental health is that it might not only affect their performance in sports but also their well-being generally. Depression and anxiety has not only been found to be significant causes of ill performance in sporting activities, but also relates to other alarming issues such as mental disorders at its aggravated state.
The need for an athlete to perform excellently well and even outperform other athletes in a competition, is an enormous one and as such, there is a desperate need to always keep fit at all times. They are expected to have maximum level of endurance and strength for their performance.
They engage in various rigorous activities that requires them to train and exercise constantly. Occasionally, during the course of a sporting activity they may encounter and sustain severe injuries to show the difficulty of the activities they perform.
They endanger their lives now and then to make sure they are successful in what they do. Sometimes, all these activities pose a negative impact on the health of the athlete, most especially the athlete’s mental health.