The sport injury you can’t see

Healthy body, healthy mind — it is a mantra touted by doctors, psychologists, and athletes alike. As every avid gym-goer will affirm, regular exercise and group activity can do wonders to stave off depression. As college athletes prepare to start a new term this coming August, they’ll likely appear in better shape — both physically and mentally — than many of their peers. Yet these students, who by their very definition get copious amounts of both exercise and social activity, have just as high a risk for depression as their less athletic counterparts.....

....Time management may play a large role, Hong suggests. “College student athletes might spend up to 40 hours a week in practice on top of regular schoolwork. That’s a lot of time devoted to sports,” he says. That leaves little time for classwork, socializing and even sleep.

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Bethany`s Notes
Notes: Certainly data is important but it does not always tell the whole story. Where does the anxiety come from? Parents? Coaches? The student athletes themselves? More research needs to be done to help both those helping students and the student athletes.