Originally posted on https://www.fridayhealthplans.com/

As the mother of 14-year-old and 12-year-old girls, you don’t have to tell me that the middle school and high school years are tough on young women (and their mothers). In my household, sometimes a meltdown can be caused because my daughter doesn’t like what we are serving for breakfast. Other days it’s because she doesn’t feel comfortable with her outfit or how her hair looked when she woke up. Most nights she hasn’t gotten enough sleep because of all the fricking homework her school insists on giving her and dreads having to navigate the lunch table social circles where the girls who are supposed to be her friends somehow forget to save her a seat. With the onset of puberty and all the pressures society (and we parents) put on young women to be perfect, being a girl is hard. The great news is, sports can help!

If you want to raise a happy, healthy, motivated, successful girl, make sure she plays sports, especially in high school. That’s one of the findings in a recently released report by the nonprofit group, ROX or Ruling Our Experiences. The organization surveyed over 10,000 girls in the U.S. in 5th through 12th grades as part of the girls and sports impact report and found girls who play sports are more confident, have higher opinions of themselves and their bodies and stronger relationships with other girls compared to those who don’t play sports.

The benefits of playing sports go way beyond those associated with exercise and this study found that when girl drama really heats up, in high school, that is when the benefits of sports are biggest. The ROX report says high school girls who play sports have lower levels of sadness and depression, they have higher opinions of their abilities and competencies. Female athletes trust and get along with other girls and have healthier ways to handle stressful situations than those who don’t play a sport.

Maybe the most eye-opening part of the report for me is the page on social media. We all know too much time on the gram isn’t good for our girls, but did you know that according to this study: Girls who spend the most time using social media are 5 times more likely to report that they are sad or depressed nearly every day? One-third of all girls report being bullied or that they have had an argument at school due to something that happened on social media. As you might expect, the more time your girl is on a field or court, the less time they have to be on their iPhone. 63 percent of girls spending 10+ hours on social media are non-athletes.

Finally, if you want to raise daughters who will speak up for themselves and believe they are smart enough for their dream career, playing sports will help with that too. The report also found high school girls who play sports are significantly more likely to have supportive friends and they have more positive and expansive views on girls’ roles and opportunities related to careers and leadership.

Just in case you were feeling like all that time in the car or sitting out on a practice field isn’t making a difference, it is. Now you have a study that proves it.

Written by Alex Flanagan. Originally posted on ILoveToWatchYouPlay.com.

We have spent a great deal of time at ILTWYP sharing information about sleep, recovery, and mindfulness to help athletes succeed in sports, school, and life.

Scientist, Dr. Andrew Huberman, from the Department of Neurobiology and Opthalmology at Stanford University School Of Medicine, has made these topics his life’s work. Most recently, we stumbled upon a conference his department did on the nervous system and, in particular, sleep. And he brought up some unique ways to help kids get more and better sleep.

First, as a review, if you don’t know why this topic matters to athletes, check out this post we did about the many ways sleep affects a student-athlete. It’s mind-blowing if you think about it; this one simple thing touches almost every aspect of a child’s life.

Sleep is also hugely important to help a child or teenager regulate their emotions. Recent statistics indicate that 95% of male and 85% of female athletes report higher stress than 52% of non-athlete students. Add on top of that a pandemic and a significant reduction in their ability to participate in sports, and these numbers are probably even much higher now.

So finding ways for your athletes to get quality sleep is imperative to their mental health and their success.

Here are the key takeaways from Dr. Huberman’s hour-long talk.

• View sunlight the first thing in the morning. Do this not through a window, but actually by going outside. Even if it’s overcast, this will wake up the nervous system.
• Avoid bright lights between the hours of 11 pm-4 am. Don’t use overhead lights or have direct light of any sort.
• Use blue light or computer/device light only in the daytime. If you must use screens after dark, then dim the screens. It only takes a little bit of blue light to inhibit melatonin and make sleep more difficult.
• View the sunset. This gives your body and nervous system a cue to ready itself for sleep.
• Blast light in your kids’ eyes. It sounds cruel, but it really works if you are trying to get your kid on a better sleeping schedule. For 1-2 minutes, turn on their overhead lights in their rooms. You don’t even need to wake them up. This will help shift them to going to bed earlier and waking up earlier.

Check out more from Dr. Huberman on his podcast.

Originally posted on ILoveToWatchYouPlay.com

My athletic career was a roller coaster ride. Full of ups and downs it was one that I sometimes questioned if I was enjoying … until I stepped off and wanted nothing more than to get back on again. I look back and it’s easy to remember the good. The times when I was high on life and my chosen sport of hockey brought me pure joy. But in telling my story I would be remiss not to touch on the parts where I was simply holding on for dear life. There are moments I wouldn’t change for the world and moments I wish I could go back and give myself the gift of perspective…

At 10, watching the USWNT soccer players on TV with my dad…

You don’t know it yet, but this generation of female soccer players are going to redefine what it means to be a female athlete. You’ll look up to them in every way, even cut your hair short like Abby Wambach, and grow up with them as role models. They are the first to teach you that women can be strong, powerful, and use sport as a platform for good. You may never wear a national team jersey, but you will join them in that mission.

At 15, crying in my kitchen thinking I might get cut from my first elite hockey team…

You get a taste of what it means to play with the best in the country and, for the first time, the fear of not being good enough creeps into your mind. This is a seed that, once planted, will take years to unroot. Your identity as a hockey player is strengthening, you worry about something threatening that identity, and you decide you will do whatever it takes to protect it. For better or worse, it is a turning point in your commitment level to the sport. You will have years where you lose yourself in the game, but your work ethic will set you apart and be the reason for your future success.

At 16, winning a soccer State Championship…

You slice the ball into the bottom corner and after double overtime and a round of penalty kicks cinch the State Championship for your school. It is simultaneously the pinnacle and the end of your soccer career. Bittersweet and your first taste of transition, this will be as close as you get to your USWNT role models. You look for new ones in the sport of hockey… but where are they? It will be up to you and your teammates to become them. The women’s landscape is just finding its feet, you’ll have to fight for your opportunity to play the game.

At 19, getting the official recruitment call…

It’s a bright sunny day and your phone rings from a familiar number. It’s a call you’ve been waiting for your entire career. You have to pinch yourself as you hear coach say “we’ve got a spot for you.” You’ll know in your heart Dartmouth is where you’re meant to be, and you’ll be right. The people, the team, the opportunities will be more than you ever imagined. You’ll score your first collegiate goal in your home opener and jump into your parents arms in celebration after the game. The only thing going through your mind: it was all worth it.

At 21, facing my anxiety…

There will be a moment you know you’re not okay – where you realize your teammates don’t face the same crippling anxiety around food choices you do, don’t hyperventilate after eating ice cream the way you do, and don’t train excessively to manage their body size the way you do. There will be a moment you know you’re not okay, and then there will be another moment you decide to be brave enough to ask for help. In getting that help you will begin to untangle the narratives around being lean, being an athlete, and being female. You will realize that in your pursuit to be a better athlete you were compromising your ability to be a healthy human. It will take time but you will take your power back from a system that took it without asking.

At 22, being named Captain… making hard decisions

Your senior year you will be named captain of your division 1 collegiate hockey team. A lifelong goal accomplished, that thought pops into your head again: it was all worth it. You are prepared for what it means to lead, but when it comes time to execute you will be surprised by how much the right decisions can still hurt. You will learn that you can’t always trust people’s words, but rather their actions, and you will experience the real meaning of accountability. It will be hard to face your teammates when they don’t hold to team standards, but it will be a life lesson in integrity that you will take with you forever.

At 23, saying goodbye to hockey…

The buzzer sounds and that’s it – a 12-year chapter closed. Senior day on home ice, with crowds of friends and family in attendance. You got yourself on the scoreboard, skated hard until your last shift, and played from your heart. Sure, there were other levels to reach, other places you could go with the sport – but you knew in your heart you were done with competitive hockey. You gave it your all for so long, you didn’t even realize that there was a weight that lifted off your shoulders that day. For the first time in your life, you’ll allow yourself to look back with pride on your accomplishments – with no next step to chase, no uphill battle to fight to get to a higher level, and no more sacrifices to make in the name of the sport you have forever identified with. You will bask in that freedom for a while, and then the question “what next” will hit you like a ton of bricks… It will take time to answer but with exploration, curiosity, and encouragement from friends and family, you’ll stumble upon your next passion: supporting injured & retired athletes. You’ll get to use the ups and downs of your career to speak to the next generation. Your training, your hard work, and your dedication will be transferable to a new context and fuel you as an entrepreneur. You’ll spark conversations and change the narrative of what it means to be sidelined.

Once again you’ll think to yourself: It was hard, but it was all worth it.

Written by Mackenzie St. Onge. Originally posted on PositiveCoach.org.