There are a lot of ways people can spend their time. Once you see all the benefits that come with playing basketball, you might find yourself prioritizing a game with your friends.
The Social Component
Humans, for better or worse, are pack animals, and this means we like to do things in groups. It sometimes feels like we don’t, but more often than not, this comes from feeling like we’re in the wrong pack for us. Basketball and other team sports are excellent ways to fulfill our social needs while having fun. Humans need to be breathing in pheromones from other humans on a regular basis in order to feel mentally well, healthy, emotionally stable, and motivated in all aspects of their lives. One of the fastest ways to reduce mental capabilities is to isolate someone. Do yourself, your mood, and your health a favor and set up a weekly practice or game with some friends (or seek out clubs and teams in your area online).
The Mental Component
It’s no secret that life can be tough. There can be bad days, weeks, months—even years. When life is chaotic and stressful, and nothing seems to be going your way, it’s easy to get down on yourself and lose motivation and enthusiasm. Basketball and other leisure sports can help with this. Foremost, you get a hefty boost of dopamine every time you pull off a great move or score a few points (dopamine is the feel-good neurochemical that is responsible for human motivation). You can spend a little time at https://ironcityshowdown.com/ reading basketball articles, tips, and tricks if you want to boost the dopamine when you play even higher. Basketball and other sports also give you a much-needed mindfulness break. As you play, you become focused only on the present: where the ball is and where you want it to be. This break for the mind serves a similar purpose to meditation and has many of the same benefits. We all need time within our day where we’re completely present and not stressing about work and the dog and the kids and our sister and our uncle and the economy and the political setup at the moment.
The Physical Component
We all know that exercise is good for us and that we should be doing more of it. The problem is, it’s hard to get motivated to work out if you don’t enjoy the task that you’re doing. A nice solution to this problem is to find an activity that you enjoy—like playing basketball—so that you’re eager to get out and move around. Basketball is particularly excellent for balancing a physical workout that gets your heart pumping (improving your cardiovascular health) and also encourages the development and maintenance of hand-eye coordination, balance, and flexibility. As we age, it’s these skills that determine how long we can keep moving about for and so it’s really important to maintain them.
The above benefits are just a few of the stellar reasons you might want to start playing basketball. It is worth noting that all of these benefits apply just the same to your friends and family—why not encourage others to get outside and play a game?
