Playing sports is good from an early age! If as a team, even better! Confirmation comes from a further recent study that participation in team sports, in particular, was associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms in children.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousPlaying sports is good from an early age! If as a team, even better! The confirmation comes from a further recent study according to which participation in team sports, in particular, would have been associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms in children.
The results of this research from the University of Washington, published Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, suggest that exercise may have antidepressant effects on adolescents.
"These interesting findings provide important clues as to how exercise benefits mood in children and reveal the important role gender plays in these effects," said Cameron Carter, MD, director of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
Using brain imaging, the researchers showed that involvement in sports was associated with an increase in the volume of a brain region important for memory and stress response - the hippocampus - in both boys and girls.
However, hippocampal volume has only been associated with depressive symptoms in males. The research involved over 4.000 children aged 9 to 11, and is the first to link sports involvement in mental health and brain development in children.
"We found that these relationships were specific to participation in sport and not participation in other types of activities, such as clubs, arts and music, although these activities may have their own benefits that were not examined in the current study," they said authors Lisa Gorham and Deanna Barch, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis.
This link was particularly strong in the case of the team sports, demonstrating the additional advantage of team sports, from social interaction to the regularity it entails.
From football to volleyball, from water polo to rugby, one more reason to promote sports that provide both physical exercise and social interaction!
Roberta Ragni
Read also:
Today's children are no longer capable of doing a somersault
