Between practices, games, meets, tournaments, and all the other responsibilities that are required as an athlete, it can be difficult to find time to acknowledge or seek support for one’s mental health. The pressure and expectations to perform to the best of your ability tend to outweigh the importance of speaking up and receiving help. As a result, we have come to prioritize the sport over the person as a whole, while simultaneously reinforcing the stigmas surrounding mental health in athletes. This is detrimental to not only the individual athlete, but for athletes in general.
Mental health in athletes takes all kinds of shapes and sizes, and is unique to each person. Athletes everywhere, at all levels, and across all sports face obstacles regarding their mental health. Some of the common mental health concerns are depression, anxiety, disordered eating, over-training, and perfectionism, just to name a few. This can present through symptoms like lower energy levels, increased difficulties in sleep, poor nutrition, alterations in mood, increase in stress, feelings of hopelessness, isolation, and overall fatigue.
Even with these significant concerns, athletes can be driven into silence by fear of being unable to participate in their sport as per someone else’s choice,as well as the fear of being looked at differently or judged by our coaches and teammates, which gives athletes enough reason to keep the state of their mental health hidden from others. While these fears are normal, they keep people from receiving the necessary support they need.
Receiving care for and tending to our mental well-being is just as important as our physical health, and deserves to be treated as such. By addressing and treating mental health, athletes can work to become the best version of themselves in all aspects. At the end of the day, an athlete is a human, worthy of support!
If any of this relates to you, know that you are not alone.
Here are some ways athletes can receive support:
- Talk to a trusted friend or family member
- Talking to a friend, or family member outside of your sport about your experience can help combat feelings of isolation, as well as getting an outside perspective.
- Talk to a teammate
- Not only can this help take some weight off of the athlete from sharing, but also opens the floor for the teammate(s) to express their feelings as well, which may be similar. Conversations of mental health within a team are important and can increase cohesion.
- Speak with your coaches or mentors
- No matter how much we want them to be, our coaches and mentors are not mind readers.Your mental well-being is a conversation worth having as it can impact your training and overall performance. Speaking with your coach or mentor can give them insight into what may need to be addressed and/or adjusted.
- Meet with a mental health professional
- Speaking with a professional can help athletes address distressing symptoms and concerns, as well as provide support and skills that are necessary to balancing the demands of being an athlete.
As an athlete, there is a lot of pressure to perform well and be perfect. The immense amounts of pressure put on young athletes can result in a multitude of mental health struggles. By addressing mental health concerns, athletes can work to be the best they can be, mind, body, and spirit.
