Sport, stress, and mental health

Sport can be an escape from life’s stressors. Researchers who investigated the impact of lifetime stress on male athletes’ performance and their willingness to seek mental health help found that sports-related stressors negatively affected their mental health and performance. Athletes also struggled to identify mental health symptoms. This highlights the need for proactive mental health…

Spreading wellbeing among team members

Understanding the dynamics between athletes, coaches, and support personnel is important. This study was among the first to explore these relationships and how they impact wellbeing. Shared values and the ability to cope with challenges were factors that we found to boost wellbeing. The study also reveals how wellbeing can spread among team members through…

Supporting athletes’ mental health through tailored interventions

High performance athletes confront a myriad of mental health challenges throughout their career. According to a multi-societal consensus statement, these challenges vary across distinct phases of the Olympic/Paralympics journey, encompassing the pre-, during-, and post-Games. This underscores the need for heightened mental health awareness as well as tailored support within each phase of the quadrennium…

Exercise and mental health

To ensure we stay healthy it is important we take care of our mental health. Often when feeling down it can be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise. However, recent research shows that even light to moderate level physical activity will lead to higher levels of perceived happiness and self perceived health leading to overall…

Impact of sleep on mental health

When life gets busy it is common for many people to end up sacrificing sleep in order to get all of their tasks done. Sleep difficulties are prevalent among Canadians, and poor sleep quality and duration have been associated with worsened overall well-being. A new study found that there are strong associations between good sleep…

Belonging in marginalized populations

Organized sports can serve as a powerful conduit for fostering feelings of belonging in marginalized populations, such as individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Effective Cheering

Did you know that cheering for runners is more than just words? Research reveals that providing instructional and motivational support is appreciated by runners, but its effectiveness depends on factors like the runner’s condition and course feedback accuracy. While support is usually uplifting, it can also create pressure. Experts suggest using the “IMPACT” approach (Instructional,…

Self-talk Enhances Endurance Performance

When athletes are mentally tired, it can negatively impact their performance. In a study, mentally fatigued athletes performed worse in endurance tests. However, when they used motivational self-talk during these tests, their performance improved. This means positive self-talk can actually overcome the negative effects of mental fatigue and boost performance.

Teammates Support Mental Health

Teammates play an important role in supporting athletes’ mental health. Researchers found that many elite athletes feel most comfortable discussing topics related to mental health with their teammates, as they have often had similar experiences. Creating athlete support networks within teams or organizations may help reduce the stigma around mental health and help athletes openly…

Body Confident Coaching

New research highlights the importance for sport organizations to recognize the link between athletes’ body image, mental health, and performance. Researchers piloted a new intervention called Body Confident Coaching that showed increased coaches’ ability to address body image concerns and reduced fat phobia and gendered beliefs. The study emphasizes the need for resources to support…