Professional athletes are people who have a true passion for the sport they play while also being able to play exceptionally. For some people, being a professional athlete is fulfilling their childhood dreams. While some athletes enjoy all the fame, money, and fans, others could be making millions and find it to not even be worth it. Having to be a role model for millions of people and practice hours and hours a week is too much for some athletes to handle. What many people don’t know is that one in four athletes suffer from a mental illness from all the stress. Being a professional athlete takes a huge toll on physical and mental health, which also could lead to making poor life decisions, drug abuse, and even eating disorders.

Athletes today are put under extreme amounts of pressure since millions of people are not only watching every game, but also looking up to some of the players as role models. Many children, and even adults, look up to some of their favorite athletes which could be very nerve racking to some athletes who do not like being under so much pressure. The media plays such a huge influence in the lives of athletes. With the media broadcasting athlete’s lives they are forced to be role models for millions of people all over the world. “The rush of competition is something that many athletes have described as being addicting. The feeling of being watched, respected, and sometimes even idolized, can be intoxicating” (Hardy). Although, this does set high standards for the players. Athletes start to get very cautious of every minor mistake they make because their coaches, teammates, and fans our counting on them. Being under so much pressure could cause players to have a fear of failing, and letting themselves and others down. When the athletes become overwhelmed by these repeating negative thoughts, they may start to question their ability to perform. When athletes are at the point when they feel like they are disappointing and letting their fans down, many start abusing substances and alcohol.

According to a study in the journal Sports Medicine, fifty-seven percent of athletes admitted to using drugs. Due to being under so much pressure, athletes tend to make poor decisions to try and get the feeling of failure to go away. While some athletes are doing this to take away the feeling of pain and disappointment, what some might not know is that “alcohol consumption can reduce hand– eye coordination, muscle strength, muscle memory, and running and cycling times and lead to dehydration, insomnia, and myopathies” (Morse 9). So although they think they might be fixing their problems, it’s actually lowering their athleticism. Some athletes might also start to get addicted from drugs because they used it as pain killers. Morphine, methadone, vicodin, and percocet are all examples of drugs that athletes may use to help them perform during games while being injured. However, the narcotics are highly addictive. “They work to depress the nervous system and can result in feelings of euphoria and well-being. So not only are these substances helping to rid a person of his or her pain, but they may also be making him or her feel “high.” These feelings of euphoria and well-being can cause an increase in one’s self-esteem, resulting in the athlete no longer feeling the pressures that he or she may have previously been experiencing” (Hardy). The longer that competitors take these painkillers, the more rapidly their resilience develops. Leaving them to require even more drugs then they started out with to continue the euphoric emotions and more prominent feeling of self-esteem.

An issue in elite athletes that has received an increased amount of attention in recent years is their mental health. Numerous amounts of athletes are experiencing depression, eating disorders, and many other mental illnesses due to their sport. Michael Phelps is a professional swimmer who has competed in the Olympics various times. He recently spoke up to the public saying that he has been dealing with depression for years. At his first Olympics in 2000, Phelps lost his race by less than half a second, therefore he had returned home with no medal. “Intensity has a price. ‘Really, after every Olympics I think I fell into a major state of depression,’ said Phelps when asked to pinpoint when his trouble began. He noticed a pattern of emotion ‘that just wasn’t right’ at ‘a certain time during every year,’ around the beginning of October or November, he said. ‘I would say ’04 was probably the first depression spell I went through’” (Scutti). Phelps shows the example that athletes are being pushed too hard, making their coaches and themselves have too high of expectations. So that when don’t win and succeed in the sport that they wished they had, it leaves the athlete feeling hopeless and having a greater chance of developing depression. Eating disorders could also be very common in some athletes, especially females. For sports like swimming and diving, gymnastics, and figure skating, athletes are being judged based on their body image. For example, professional diver Wendy Williams struggled to maintain weight throughout her career. “The required clean lines and flawless entries into the water necessitate a near-obsessional focus on the body’s contours. The body-revealing suits worn by the divers add another dimension to the concerns a diver might experience before spectators and judges” (Baum 47). Although some female athletes might have an eating disorder through their sport season, they are more likely to carry on their bad eating habits once their season comes to an end. Which could then lead to an unhealthy cycle that could last for years. As well as also leaving them with low energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone mineral density. There could be serious consequences due to restrictive eating or binge eating in athletes.

Professional athletes all over the world are being pushed too hard by coaches, making them feel pressured to perform perfectly. They have to impress their coaches, themselves, and all the fans who look up to them as role models or even people who just enjoy watching them play. All the stress could lead athletes to overdose on drugs or alcohol, or lead to developing a mental illness. Either way, professional athletes today have too much pressure, which may cause them to have mental health problems.

 

Works Cited

Baum, Antonia L. “Eating Disorders in Athletes” Clinical Sports Psychiatry : An International Perspective, edited by David A. Baron, et al., John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013, pp 44-52 ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/newpaltz-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1165231. Accessed 26 Sep. 2019

Hardy, Lauren N. “Pressure on Athletes, Competitiveness, and Addiction.” Addiction Hope, https://www.addictionhope.com/prescription-drugs/pressure-on-athletes-competitiveness- and-addiction/.

Morse, Eric D. “Substance Use in Athletes” Clinical Sports Psychiatry : An International Perspective, edited by David A. Baron, et al., John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013, pp 3-12 ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/newpaltz-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1165231. Accessed 26 Sep. 2019

Scutti, Susan. “Michael Phelps: ‘I Am Extremely Thankful That I Did Not Take My Life’.” CNN, 20 Jan. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/01/19/health/ michael-phelps-depression/index.html.