Soccer Can Boost The Nation's Health

If you play competitively or just for fun, soccer helps keep you fit and brings you the health benefits of other aerobic activities as well as some strengthening exercises.

It's popular with children and adults alike and can be played in an amateur or professional team or just casually at home in the garden or local park. Football or soccer, is a sport played by 250 million people in over 200 countries, making it the world's most popular sport.

Health benefits

NHS Scotland states the football counts towards your recommended amount of aerobic activity and brings benefits including reducing your risk of certain chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. It will help improve your overall cardiovascular health and you should see your endurance increase over time if played frequently.

The combination of running, walking, sprinting and kicking can bring benefits including increased stamina, improved cardiovascular health, reduced body fat, improved muscle strength and tone, increased bone strength and improved coordination.

Playing regular sports is also thought to help improve symptoms of some mental health issues like depression and stress, can lead to increased confidence and self-esteem, and can help to reduce anxiety. 

Research on the health benefits of soccer

A Swiss study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports compared how football and running affected the health of people with slightly raised blood pressure. The study followed men for 12 weeks as they either played football or ran on a treadmill. The results show that regular sessions of either exercise were beneficial for fitness, weight loss and building muscle. And there is already plenty of evidence to show that football has other health benefits too.

Another study carried out by researchers at Copenhagen University found that playing football for one hour, three times a week, resulted in lower body fat, and an increase in muscle mass.

Summary

We can clearly see the health benefits that can come from people playing football as weekly activity. If the NHS collaborates effectively with local authorities to promote football as a mass participation activity in parks and green spaces, I firmly believe that we can tackle many of the nations public health concerns.