College Athletes Mental Health Essay

Mental Health is a silent illness that needs to be spoken about and focused on a lot more. College athletes, especially at the Division 1 level struggle with this very heavily due to the stress of school work, five A.M. weight lifts, three-four hour practices, traveling for games, and sleep deprivation. These athletes perform very well but also are struggling on the inside without letting anybody notice. The buildup of anxiety, stress, depression, anger, and tiredness often pushes these athletes to the end. Mental health is someone’s psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Mental health affects people in so many ways and each person differently such as how they think, act, and feel. People think that mental health is not that serious

Some may argue that it is not a big deal and since people cannot see it, you can just deal with it on your own. Most people do not seek help though because they think that since people can’t see it, they do not think it is affecting them and they are proud of hiding it so well. It has been said that most people do not seek help also because they are embarrassed to talk to someone about their problems and what they are going through. People tend to only seek help for their physical health and that is because physical health has been held to a much higher standard than mental health. But, your physical health can also affect your mental health because they are connected. The effect of your physical health on your mind can be extreme especially if what you are going through is difficult. Relating it back to sports, injuries can have an insane impact on mental health. Realizing that it can take months to heal and actually get back to playing the game you love, can cause severe depression on these athletes. These mental health problems that are associated with physical health can increase the risk of physical illness further on. The importance of prioritizing your mental health can allow for building positive life experienes because life can throw anything at you, it is so unpredictable. This is one of the reasons why people tend to put thier mental health aside.

You can barely find time to see them and you can only watch them play on the television. Imagine being the parent in this person’s shoes. Here is a real life scenario. It is April 25, 2021 and you are the parent receiving the most heartbreaking news that your daughter, only 20 years old has committed suicide. You are halfway across the country and had no thought that she was even struggling because she was playing so well. This athlete is known as Lauren Bernett, a James Madison University softball catcher. NBc News had put out a report authored by Matt Weyrich that stated that “Bernett was only a sophomore in college and was studying biology and had a minor in pre-veterinary science and was a member of the National Honor Society ''. Not only was this pressure put on her for what she was studying, she was also balancing the commitment of being a Division 1 athlete which is way too stressful. Yes, it does play a factor when the degree you are studying is hard, but there should be resources and help along the way. The demandment of this level of a sport is way too extreme. Trying to manage getting all of your schoolwork done and showing up to practice everyday gets tiring. Bernett had feared there was no help surrounding her therefore she did not seek any help. On the day before she passed, she earned the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week honors and nobody had a clue that this was