Football is one of the most popular sports, perhaps the most popular in the world. Reported by NHS Inform, football has been played by more than 250 million people from 200 countries. Its popularity is extraordinary, including in Indonesia.
Because it is a form of sport, of course football provides health benefits and helps players stay in shape. This sport is also good for all ages, from children to adults, men and women. Find out more about the health benefits of soccer in the reviews below.
1. Reduce some risk of disease
Football is an activity aerobics which offers a variety of benefits, such as reduced risk chronic disease Certain diseases include heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, citing NHS Inform.
Normally, this sport is 90 minutes long to play, so someone who plays soccer can have a tremendous aerobic capacity to be able to switch from walking to running, then walking again, which is done over and over again.
According to information from American Heart Association (AHA), playing soccer can help reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Most of these benefits can be felt after 12 to 16 weeks of playing soccer on a fairly regular basis.
Soccer is categorized as a multipurpose sport that combines endurance, strength training, as well as high-intensity interval training.
–
2. Improve cardiovascular health
heart illustration (unsplash.com/Jesse Orrico)–
Another advantage of playing soccer is that it can improve cardiovascular health. This is because constant movement while playing can strengthen the heart, fight plaque buildup in the coronary arteries, reduce blood pressure blood pressure, as well as burning excess calories.
In 90 minutes of a game, a player can run about 8 to 11 kilometers. The combination of walking, jogging, and sprinting in a game of soccer constantly can keep the heart rate high, so it can train the cardiovascular and improve health. The Coach Crew.
–
3. Reduce body fat and increase muscle and bone strength
illustration of playing soccer (pexels.com/Ashley Williams)–
As a sport with a lot of movement, soccer is very good for burn fat and also train the muscles. By playing soccer, more muscle mass can be built and more fat can be burned because when playing soccer, players will use both aerobic and anaerobic energy pathways at the same time, so they can get more energy. burn calories compared to regular exercise.
Launch The Coach CrewLower body muscle strength can also be trained by kicking, jumping, tackling, and twisting. Body strength and upper muscles can also be trained because they are needed to receive the ball, hold the opponent, throw-in when the ball out, and so forth. Therefore, playing soccer regularly can increase overall muscle strength because it uses the whole body.
Increasing age can make bone density decrease, and this is unavoidable. However, playing soccer may slow this process down because the strength of the skeleton can be increased by repeated loads. So, soccer is also good for keeping bones strong.
Also read: 7 Effects of Running if Routinely Done Every Day
–
4. Reduce stress, anxiety, and depression
stress illustration (freepik.com/tirachardz)–
Football can support mental and emotional health. When you play, or any sport in general, your body releases endorphins that will improve your mood.
Reported Soccer Coaching ProStudies have shown that exercising regularly can improve general mental health over a long period of time.
The regular release of endorphins due to playing soccer can also help reduce stress, anxiety, to depression. It is also associated with the release of the hormones dopamine and serotonin, which also help improve mood. In addition, it can also improve appetite and sleep cycles, thereby contributing to reduced appetite worry as well as depression.
–
5. Improve concentration, focus and mental strength
illustration of playing soccer (unsplash.com/Giorgio Trovato)–
Playing soccer can also improve concentration, focus and overall mental strength. This is because when playing we need high concentration or focus to pay attention to the ball and the situation. Not focusing in the middle of the game can cause players to make mistakes that are detrimental to the team, until they concede.
Continue reading the article below
Editor’s picks
–
By continuing to practice concentration, this can also be useful for life outside the gridiron, for example when working or studying.
In addition, playing soccer can also improve analytical skills and problem solving abilities, because players must always be alert and react quickly in determining the choice of actions to be taken, whether it’s when attacking to score goals or even when defending.
Endurance and mental strength can also be trained through this sport. As we know, in a game or match, of course there are teams that win and lose. When you lose, players are trained mentally so they don’t give up easily and return to practicing diligently to win on another occasion. Meanwhile, when winning, players are trained to control their emotions in order to remain humble, not arrogant, and maintain victory in the next game.
–
6. Train coordination and improve brain cognitive function
brain illustration (pixabay.com/PublicDomainPicture)–
Rapid movement changes such as walking, running, then walking again in soccer can train body coordination. Good body coordination is essential when dribbling, turning, and performing passes made at different levels of speed and direction. Of course, kicking as well as receiving the ball also requires good coordination, quoting The Coach Crew.
Function cognitive the brain is also trained and improved. This is because football is a fast game that requires quick decisions in every action. Even when the tempo of the game seems to slow down, players must still be in a good position to receive the ball’s pass or defend areas that may be attacked by the opponent, so that brain function can be trained to strategize and read the opponent’s movements.
Also read: 7 Health Benefits of Exercising on a Static Bike
–
7. Improve the ability to work together
illustration of teamwork in football (unsplash.com/Michael Lee)–
As a team sport of eleven players, playing soccer can improve teamwork skills. Without good cooperation between players, it will be difficult to score goals and the defense will be weak.
The coordination needed in soccer is not only between members of the body as well, but also between teammates to jointly beat the opponent and achieve victory.
–
8. Watching football from the stands can even be good for your health
illustration of football crowd in stadium (pixabay.com/djedj)–
Do you believe, just watching football can be beneficial for health?! According to information from the AHA, watching football live from the stands requires a healthy level of endurance. The fans in the stands can bring an encouraging atmosphere to the players.
Even though there are seats provided, it is not uncommon for the audience to stand up and even jump for joy when the supported team approaches the goal to score.
Being a spectator can sweat because of this spontaneous movement. In fact, some spectators can be very active, just as active as the players on the field.
–
9. Has better benefits than running
illustration of playing soccer (pixabay.com/phillipkofler)–
Reported by Science Daily, the research entitled “Football for Health” which contains 14 scientific articles about football from Indonesia Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports in 2010 stated that soccer has the same health and fitness effects as running, and in some cases even better than running.
This research was conducted on research subjects aged 9 to 77 years who were previously not active in certain sports or exercises.
In the study, soccer training for 2-3 hours per week can improve cardiovascular health, metabolism, and musculoskeletal significance in all study subjects.
The interesting finding is that many of the research subjects continued to play soccer a year after the study was over, and some of them even joined a soccer club. Meanwhile, not many of the running group continued their routine.
The research team concluded that this could be because runners are more focused on health and fitness alone, while soccer players tend to be more committed to the soccer activity itself.
Football is arguably a complete package sport, because it involves various physical activities such as walking, jogging, sprinting, jumping, kicking, and so on. The benefits are not only felt physically, but also mentally and emotionally the players.
As a very popular sport, soccer players can be more diligent in playing soccer because it is not only oriented towards personal health goals. More than that, football is a form of cooperation and a beloved hobby.
Also Read: If You Do Push-Ups Every Day, Here Are 8 Effects You Can Get
–
–
