I’m about to share my experience of playing sport for fun, and tell you about its benefits that extend way beyond just a healthy body. Did you know that exercise makes you smarter?

Studies Confirm That Sport Makes You Smarter

“One new study suggests there may indeed be a connection between sports and intelligence. Findings from the four-year study at Albion College in Michigan indicate that twice as many children who exercised regularly scored higher in math tests than those who did not.” - Source

“”Exercise in many ways optimizes your brain to learn,” says Dr. John Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston who’s at work on a book about exercise and the brain.” - Source

“With colleagues, he rounded up 259 Illinois third and fifth graders, measured their body-mass index and put them through classic PE routines: the “sit-and-reach,” a brisk run and timed push-ups and sit-ups. Then he checked their physical abilities against their math and reading scores on a statewide standardized test. Sure enough, on the whole, the kids with the fittest bodies were the ones with the fittest brains, even when factors such as socioeconomic status were taken into account.” - Source

Some Of The Many Benefits Of Playing Sport

Obvious Health Benefits

The most obvious benefit of playing sport is that it is good for your body and will contribute to your good health. Your heart and lungs get strengthened, your blood and oxygen is circulated through your body, your muscles are trained, fat is burned, your skin is cleaned through presperation and toxins and waste are removed from your body.

Good health is an essential part of a good and enjoyable life, so that is one reason why playing sport is good for you!

Reduce or Remove Stress

Our daily lives are full of external sources that give us stress, like our jobs, driving on the road, relationships, business etc. Stress is very bad for the body and mind, and a really good way to get rid of stress is by exercising and playing sport. After exercising, endorphins are released into the bloodstream (the feel-good hormone) and your muscles are often no longer tense.

Meet People

A great way to meet new people is by playing sport. Your shared interest for the game is something you have in common and thus you are not total strangers to each other. There will always be opportunities to play with or against somebody else, and often it is quite possible to form friendships or business relationships with these people.

Strengthen Relationships

You can strengthen a current relationship or bond that you have with somebody by playing sport with them. Whether it be a friend, a colleague, a business partner or your lover, the activity of having fun and playing the same game together often works to bring you closer together. It is an experience that they do not share with many others, and that adds value to your relationship with them.

Encourage Creativity

When the body is healthy and stress-free, creativity and ideas seem to come more natural. Not only is this proven by studies around the world, I have also personally experienced it. I feel good and relaxed after working out or playing sport, and this often allows me to be creative, work harder or more focused and get a lot more done.

Have Fun

An often over-looked benefit of playing sport is that it is fun. You have one life, and I think it’s best to have as much fun as possible. having fun doesn’t mean taking vacation, because it is very possible to have fun while you work, while you exercise or while you do boring chores.

Tennis – The Sport Of My Choice

I love playing tennis. I learnt how to play in primary school but stopped playing for quite a few years. Recently, a few friends of mine were keen to play tennis and that is how I got back into it.

The reason why I enjoy tennis so much is because it requires skill and only needs two players. This means that it is very easy to just invite someone to play and meet them at the courts. You also don’t need to be incredibly fit to play tennis, and it takes a lot of skill to become good at serving and hitting unreturnable shots.

It’s also pretty fun to watch tennis on TV, especially when you know how difficult it actually is to play in real life. Watching the best of the world compete in massive tournaments like Wimbledon is absolutely amazing.

There are of course lots of sports that are enjoyable, and besides tennis I enjoy sports like squash, hockey, soccer, martial arts, running and swimming. Whatever the sport is that you want to choose, there are always many people available to play with. I prefer sports that I can do alone or with just a few people, because it makes the orginizational aspect of playing a game so much easier.

Be Healthy And Smart – Play Sport