How to Take Care of Yourself When Engaging in Sports

We all keep hearing this advice of getting into sports over and over again. There is always something related to sports engagement or activity shown on the media, our friends on social media platforms keep posting pictures while jogging, there is an ad about a smartwatch on TV and we see those men working out at the gym promoting the smartwatch, or simply our grandparents telling us stories of how they used to do so much physical activity in the past and all we do is stay on the phone. 

Did any of that sound familiar to you? Well, brace yourselves because this article will also be about sports. But hey, we’ll show the other side of sports that is not at all favorable, injuries. It goes without saying that every advantage has its disadvantage counterpart, and so does sport. Trust us, we have seen some of the weirdest sports injuries and we are here to save you from all that hurdle and show you how you can take care of yourself when engaging in sports. So, 1, 2, 3, let’s go!

1. Warm Up

First, let’s play it safe. Warming up is a rather essential components of any sport there is, however, people often take it for granted and don’t do it beforehand but go straight into the activity. This is, let’s say, the first mistake when doing a sport. I mean, even scientific research shows that warming up improves the physical performance by 79%. 

But what does warm up actually mean? Warming up is the process right before doing sports when you basically prepare your body for physical performance. For instance, you could be doing some light aerobic exercise such as jumping jacks which will consequently elevate your heart rate and increase the blood flow in your muscles. Thus, a warm-up lowers your chance of injury by slowly prepping your body for exercise.

2. Use Proper Protective Gear

Number two on the list is the use of protective gear which is another essential step to undertake when engaging in sports. This is probably self-explanatory, but it is important that we use protective gear designed for every sport as the reason they are designed is to eliminate the risks and dangers. 

Let’s say you want to go horseback riding, which by the way has proven to be a fear-reducing activity, but decide not to use the helmet. Not wearing a helmet can literally cost you your life because there is always a possibility that you can fall off the horse and suffer life-threatening consequences. Thus, the gear is primarily designed to protect you, and reduce the severity of such injuries or even prevent them altogether.

3. Stay Hydrated

Ever seen a boxing match and see how after every round the boxers first action is to drink water? Well, not just for boxing, drinking water is another vital component of overall sport execution. We are not just saying these, there is also research proving this point; basically, dehydration is connected to poor performance in sports. Thus, staying hydrated will eliminate the risks of injuries such as muscle cramps, joint and soft tissue injuries and the like.

Staying hydrated is mostly linked to drinking water, however, it is important to know that one gets fluids from the food that they eat as well. So, you would also need to check what you are eating before engaging in sports. In addition to that, some sportsmen and sportswomen prefer to take drinks that have electrolytes in them, as it helps them to better keep their focus and mind on the sport. 

4. Listen to Your Body

I know this sounds very cliché, but honestly it is very much great advice to follow. Our bodies are always giving us signals or symptoms when something is not going right. If you are playing a sport and you suddenly start feeling dizzy, pain, some type of discomfort or unusual fatigue, then you must take a break immediately. These should be considered as warning signs and pushing through and trying to win over them will not make things better, it will actually make them worse in the long run.

In often cases, we see people that want to achieve success overnight. Some want to lose weight, some others want to become world champions, but overtraining will not benefit either of them. Basically, you are able to avoid needless risks, and have a healthy and balanced relationship with exercise by paying attention to your body.

Conclusion

To clear things off, we highly recommend engaging in sports. However, what we do not recommend is not taking care of how you do sports. This carelessness cannot result in good terms but will rather allow risks and dangers to be even more effective. So, go out there, do as much sport as you can, but don’t forget the four golden rules presented in this article: warm up, use protective gear, stay hydrated and finally, listen to your body.