Sports Psychology
How Eating Sugar Can cause Mental Health Problems
What Is Your Mental Health
Please Complete This Quiz To Know Where Your Mental Strengths and Weaknesses Are:
DownLoad This App On Your Phone
The free app, BeGameReady, offers pre and post-game strategies to players and coaches to help mentally prepare for games, celebrate victories and bounce back from defeats.
“It’s a fun way to self-check and be self-aware,” said Richardson, whose 14-year-old daughter Daron took her own life in 2010. “It’s adaptable to any way of life.”
The app is a joint project with the Ottawa Senators Foundation, The Royal Mental Health Centre and Do It For Daron, created by the Richardson family and their friends to promote mental wellness among youth.
BeGameReady encourages young players to monitor their feelings, talk to each other about stresses and help coaches to better communicate with their players.
How To Mentally Prepare For a Hockey Game
How Food Affects Your Mood and Mental Health
Why There Needs To Be A Change
Be Game Ready
Instructions:
In today's class, I want you to understand that the pressure of an athlete has led to many mental health problems. With a diet that is free of processed sugar, it will allow you as an athlete to have a probability of less mental health issues. Sugar is known to cause depression, ADD, and anxiety; if you combine that with the stress of playing hockey; you are putting your mind in a "pressure cooker," and the results could be very negative.
I have YoutTube videos raising awareness of NHL players speaking about mental health; and then I have the affects of sugar on the mind. My goal is to show you that if you can eat a processed sugar free diet; it will allow you to be a mentally stronger person.
DIET HAS AN EXTREME EFFECT ON ONE'S MENTAL HEALTH!!!!
1.) Watch Youtube Videos
2.) Complete the Quiz "What is Your Mental Health"
3.) Download the App on Your Phone
4.) Complete Assignment
What You Will Learn
From this lesson you will learn how your diet can affect your mental health, as well as learning how to address circumstances that may cause you to suffer from mental health difficulties; and create coping strategies to prevent the negative affects of mental health.
Assignment
Please Open up the Following Document, and Complete teh Assignment.
Most people know that eating too much dessert and processed food can contribute to physical health problems like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Far less attention has been given to the impact of a high-sugar diet on mental health, though numerous studies have shown the deleterious effects a sweet tooth can have on mood, learning and quality of life. In addition to inflating waistlines, sugar and other sweeteners, including high fructose corn syrup, honey, molasses and maple syrup, may contribute to a number of mental health problems:
#1 Depression
The roller coaster of high blood sugar followed by a crash may accentuate the symptoms of mood disorders. Research (link is external) has tied heavy sugar consumption to an increased risk of depression and worse outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia. There are a couple theories explaining the link. Sugar suppresses activity of a hormone called BDNF that is low in individuals with depression and schizophrenia. Sugar is also at the root of chronic inflammation, which impacts the immune system, the brain and other systems in the body and also has been implicated in depression. Interestingly, countries with high sugar intake also have a high rate (link is external) of depression.
#2 Addiction
Although controversial, a growing body of evidence points to the addictive potential of sugar. Both drugs and, to a lesser extent, sugar and processed junk foods flood the brain with the feel-good chemical dopamine, over time changing the function of the brain. In a study (link is external) by researchers at Yale University, the simple sight of a milkshake activated the same reward centers of the brain as cocaine among people with addictive eating habits. A 2007 study (link is external) showed that rats actually prefer sugar water to cocaine. Rats given fatty and sugary products demonstrated classic symptoms (link is external) of addiction including tolerance and withdrawal symptoms when the products were taken away.
#3 Anxiety
The Standard American Diet, which is full of sugar and fat, does not necessarily cause anxiety but it does appear to worsen anxiety symptoms and impair the body’s ability to cope with stress. Individuals who suffer from panic attacks, for example, are hyper-alert to signs of impending danger. Sugar can cause blurry vision, difficulty thinking and fatigue, all of which may be interpreted as signs of a panic attack, thereby increasing worry and fear. A sugar high and subsequent crash can cause shaking and tension, which can make anxiety worse.
Research has established a correlation between sugar intake and anxiety. In a 2008 study (link is external), rats that binged on sugar and then fasted displayed anxiety, and in a 2009 study (link is external) rats fed sucrose compared to high-antioxidant honey were more likely to suffer anxiety. While dietary changes alone cannot cure anxiety, they can minimize symptoms, boost energy and improve the body’s ability to cope with stress.
#4 Learning and Memory
Sugar may also compromise cognitive abilities such as learning and memory. In an animal study (link is external) by the University of California Los Angeles, six weeks of taking a fructose solution (similar to soda) caused the rats to forget their way out of a maze, whereas rats that ate a nutritious diet and those that consumed a high-fructose diet that also included omega-3 fatty acids found their way out faster. The high sugar diet caused insulin resistance, which in turn damaged communications between brain cells that fuel learning and memory formation.
Recognizing these and other risks, the trends in sugar consumption seem to be changing. People are consuming less sugar – about 13 percent (link is external) of their daily calories – which is still far too much, but clear progress from 18 percent just over a decade ago. Our bodies were never intended to handle the amount of sugar that has become the norm in the American diet. At least now we’re beginning to recognize that the mind and body are intricately connected and both must be nurtured to achieve optimal health.
To see the full impact of sugar on America's waistline over the past 50 years, check out this infographic (link is external).