Anxiety among Football Athletes is Real

The biggest show in football happened just recently, and we all got enamored by the splendor of the sport. We all got a kick from the splendid halftime show, and having a team which never won a championship, finally made a breakthrough. Playing sports is not just a passion, but also a way for people to earn a living and to live a dream. The energy at the most prominent football game yet will be electrifying. There is something in the sport that is eerily silent. The future of this sport as far as health is concerned can be a bit uncertain.

The fact is that the rate of people playing football now is at a low. More professional football players are retiring earlier than usual. The sport has been on the radar for quite some time—and it is not rocket science to see why. Years of research gave us a picture of why football, the most beloved sport in America, has drawn much flak. Parents, coaches, and players are worried about their health and their future. With football, the players are not just challenged with a damaged brain, but anxiety and stress as well.

Prevalence Of Anxiety In Sports

Prevalence of anxiety and depression does not end alone with normal people. Top-level professional athletes also face the specter of mental health issues. The problem is that the studies on mental health status among professional players, including those playing football are rare. With methodological limitations, low response rates and heterogeneous samples make it difficult to have a strong, solid base for anxiety studies among professional athletes.

Sports-related anxiety is real. Anxiety makes it harder for football players to gain better performance on the field. It is pretty difficult to find an athlete that is not pressed to react a certain way. Athletes, like any other human, react in a certain way before, during and after a performance or an event. It is best to know why anxiety happens and how it can affect professional athletes, and how it can be managed efficiently.

Knowing Much About Anxiety

Anxiety is a condition ascribed to specific psychological and physical symptoms brought about by some degree of apprehension about uncertainty or perceived the threat to the person. The way anxiety impacts the person may vary from one person to another depending on the situation. For example, the anxiety of a football player may be tremendous when playing in the championship, compared to the regular season.

Psychologists say there are two types of anxiety. Trait anxiety refers to the anxiety felt by a person based on his or her personality. A person that has been able to train himself or herself to be calm may have better chances to control the anxiety when facing the competition and compete with others in the field.

On the other hand, state anxiety refers to the temporary feeling of anxiety or stress by a particular person, or professional football player, in reaction to a particular situation. A person with an anxious personality may have more significant problems to contend with when faced with the task to do on the football field. He or she may find it difficult to perform well as there is a possibility to feel nervous when subjected to extreme conditions and drop the ball so to speak.

An Athlete's Causes of Anxiety

There are many possible causes of anxiety in and out of the playing field. In a study in 2008 by Kremer and Moran said the reason some athletes are not comfortable and get too agitated before a game is pressure from the expectations. Fans are potentially rude and can add more pressure to the athletes, at the same time; the team management has a certain expectation from the athlete to perform. Statistics and other metrics will tell how a certain athlete should perform. The pressure to hit or surpass the expectations causes the athlete to feel a particular pressure, which translates to anxiety.

There are times, people mistake anxiety with fear, but there is a need to differentiate these two kinds of emotions. The fear or also known as “phobia” is an adverse reaction to certain stimuli such as known danger, specific objects or animals or even experiences such as walking into an elevator, riding an airplane or talking in front of a large group of people, etc.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is general and athletes know they are getting anxious, but seem to be unable to determine what causes the anxiety or what generates the feelings.

Although anxiety is but normal among athletes, it must not be taken lightly. If left unabated, anxiety could trigger the development of a lot of health problems.