Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.
Facebook Youtube Instagram Linkedin Pinterest
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Linkedin Pinterest

Beyond the Body: How the Brain Gets Involved in Sport

CoachesEducators

Michele LaBotz headshot.You may be wondering to yourself: “What possible benefit can I get by understanding how brain chemistry relates to sport?” It matters more than you might think. A better understanding of brain chemistry may actually lead to improved outcomes for your athletes, from strategies to engage them more in practice to a better understanding of how certain mood-altering prescribed medications should be taken into account when helping an athlete thrive on the team.

Here, Michele LaBotz, TrueSport Expert and sports medicine physician, explains the basics of brain chemistry that may change the way you coach your athletes.

 

The Brain is The Boss

“As a coach, it’s important to understand that there’s a lot more going on in the body than just our legs moving and how our muscles work during exercise,” says LaBotz. Understanding brain chemistry can help you be a more effective coach when you realize how much small shifts in brain chemistry can impact athletes’ actions and motivations.

“The brain is the boss of the rest of the body,” says LaBotz. “If the brain isn’t optimized and working well, the rest of the body isn’t going to be either.”

 

Physical Activity Changes the Brain

“Physical activity and exercise have direct and indirect impacts on the way our brain chemistry works,” she says. That’s why you often hear that exercise is one of the best prescriptions for people suffering from anxiety or depression, or more colloquially, when we’re upset or angry, we’re told to ‘walk it off.’ The walk really can help!

“Dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and endocannabinoids all directly play into mood, fatigue, performance, and even pain to a degree,” says LaBotz. While you can’t directly regulate your athlete’s brain chemistry, you can better understand and harness it. You can also better understand how medications that affect brain chemistry may impact your athlete.

A quick overview of some key brain chemistry components that affect young athletes:

  • Dopamine: Dopamine is associated with the reward and pleasure parts of the brain and can promote motivation. Dopamine is released during physical activity, as well as when something pleasurable happens, whether it’s winning a game or receiving a friendly text message. Many medications prescribed for attention deficit disorder/ADHD increase dopamine levels in the brain.
  • Serotonin: Serotonin is also increased during physical activity. Serotonin appears to play a significant role in helping with anxiety and depression, and many medications prescribed for these conditions increase serotonin levels in the brain. This chemical carries messages from the brain to the rest of the body, and it also plays a role in sleep, digestion, and many other important bodily functions.
  • Endorphins and endocannabinoids: Endorphins and endocannabinoids are released during exercise and are associated with reductions in pain and perceived exertion (i.e., makes things feel easier). The euphoria that some athletes experience during exercise, also known as the “runner’s high,” was previously attributed to endorphins, but are now believed to be produced by endocannabinoids.
  • Cortisol: Cortisol is important for a variety of functions in athletes, and exercise and nutrition are key regulators of its production. However, elevated levels of cortisol are associated with muscle breakdown and poor recovery.
  • Brain-derived neurotrophic factor: This protein plays a major role in the brain’s ability to learn and make new connections. It’s associated with growth and development, and it increases the brain’s ability to grow and change.

 

Practical Application of Brain Chemistry for Coaches

 

1. Increase dopamine by focusing on fun

Dopamine is the brain’s pleasure-sensing hormone, and with it comes motivation. If you can make early warmup drills fun at practice, your team can get an early dopamine surge, increasing motivation for the rest of the practice, even when it gets hard. “Any time you can make training more fun, that will increase dopamine,” says LaBotz. Finding chances for athletes to feel small wins throughout training and practice can enhance dopamine release, resulting in improved motivation and effort. You don’t need to save the rewards for competition.

Snowboarders walking on snow.

2. Increase dopamine by increasing athlete autonomy

“Dopamine levels are more responsive when activity is voluntary, or when somebody’s doing something that they want to do, rather than something that they don’t want to do,” says LaBotz. “Forced exercise does not appear to exert that same effect on dopamine levels.” To increase the likelihood of dopamine release, try giving your athletes several acceptable options, such as a choice of conditioning methods, like running, rowing, or cycling.

 

3. Feeling “hangry” is real

Feeling “hangry” (the combination of “hungry” and “anger”), is a very real phenomenon and is in part due to brain chemistry and the brain’s need for fuel. “The brain relies on glycogen stores for energy, the same as the muscles in your legs,” says LaBotz. “The brain is a huge energy suck. Young people’s brains aren’t as good at tapping into the body’s glycogen stores, so kids are much more reliant on making sure they are eating enough carbohydrates for energy before exercise.”  Encouraging athletes to “fuel up” beforehand benefits both physical and mental function during training.

 

4. Recognize the importance of brain-derived neurotrophic factor

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is important for long-term athlete development. “Exercise promotes chemicals that allow brain cells to talk to each other. And brain-derived neurotrophic factor affects the actual structure of the brain, improving the ability to develop,” LaBotz says. “We know that the whole principle of athletic development is that we should start with developing a variety of basic skills, and then build efficiency, performance, and more specialized skills off of that. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor plays a role in that.”

 

5. Athletes get stress from many different directions

You may not measure your athlete’s cortisol, but you can keep an eye on their stress levels. LaBotz notes that “Cortisol levels rise when stress levels rise—whether it’s sport-related stress from high levels of training or stress from home or school situations—cortisol levels are driven up. Poor nutrition and low calorie intake are other forms of stress that increase cortisol. Heightened cortisol is going to reduce an athlete’s ability to recover from training or injury, or to experience gains from training.” Recognizing the additive effects of stress from different sources on athlete health and performance and assuring adequate recovery during periods of high stress is key.

 

6. Brain chemistry shifts in response to overtraining

The physical reasons to avoid overtraining are obvious, but the brain can also be in danger if an athlete is doing too much. “Often, overtraining syndrome looks like depression, and depression is believed to be associated with overtraining syndrome,” says LaBotz. “A lot of times, people with overtraining syndrome get put on depression medication to alleviate those symptoms.” Monitoring athlete mental well-being during periods of increased training may help you adjust training and recovery periods to assure continued optimal performance.

 

7. Every athlete is unique

Remember, every athlete’s brain chemistry is going to be different. For instance, some people are capable of getting the flood of feel-good hormones known as the “runner’s high,” while others can run for miles without ever getting that feeling. In addition, many young athletes may be on some type of medication to change their brain chemistry and may or may not feel comfortable sharing that with you. A 2019 survey found that 10% of boys and 7% of girls used some form of medication for their mental health, but multiple reports state that these numbers have gone up significantly through the pandemic era.

____________________

Takeaway

A better understanding of brain chemistry can give you more insight into how your athletes respond to coaching and competition. Understanding how the body responds to dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, cortisol, endocannabinoids, and brain-derived neurotrophic factors can help you tailor your practice plans, conditioning schedules, and communication to best motivate and protect your athletes.

Related Content

Loading...
1 2 … 33

Join Us

Subscribe
Shop TrueSport
Host TrueSport

TrueSport logo without icon in white.

© 2024 TrueSport | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Sitemap

Goal-Setting Lesson Video Transcript

Hi. I’m Trevon, Trey, Jennifer. Team USA wheelchair basketball player, paralympian, and true sport athlete. Today, I want to talk to you about goal setting. And there are three things that I would like you to know. First, successful athletes set goals and a planned roadmap. Second, goals should be written down, assessed over time, and changed if necessary. And third, goals need to be challenging in order to be worthwhile. As a freshmen at Edinboro University, I was a part of a team that made the national championship game. And at that time I recognized I was the low man on the totem pole, but I felt in my heart that I knew my dreams were so much bigger than winning a national title. I wanted to make Team USA. I knew what achieving my lofty goal was not going to be easy and that I would need to work hard every day.

So, as a reminder, I created a pyramid of goals that I kept right above my bed. This pyramid reminded me of the accomplishments that I was working towards and visually represented my need to create a solid foundation underneath me before reaching the top. In the bottom roll of my pyramid of goals I listed goals such as obtaining my bachelor’s degree, becoming a scholar athlete award recipient, and becoming an All-American. The middle row listed winning a national title and playing for a professional team. And at the top row, the most challenging of them all, I listed becoming a gold medalist for Team USA.

By understanding that there are smaller stepping stones to achieving my ultimate goal of being on Team USA, I was able to stay motivated and to stay focused on completing the smaller stepping stones fully before moving onto the next one. Now I’ll be the first to admit that not every goal that I listed on my pyramid was accomplished, but seeing my goals every day when I went to bed, I was able to push through the days that I felt like doing nothing in hopes of achieving the bigger picture. Remember, create a clear goal roadmap, assess your goals often, and continue to challenge yourself. I hope that you never stopped dreaming big or reaching for the stars. And I look forward to seeing where your roadmap takes you.

Body Image Lesson Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Kara Winger, Olympic javelin thrower, and true sport athlete. Today I want to talk to you about body image and I have three things I’d like you to know. First, healthy thoughts often lead to healthier bodies. Second, there are varying body types and no one’s body is exactly like another. And third, true beauty goes deeper than the skin. As a multi-time Olympian, I’ve experienced a lot of variation and progression in my training. My coaches and I adapt to my training frequently, all with the goal of supporting my long-term success and health in the sport of javelin. I’m talking to you about body image today because sometimes even with the best of intentions and a common goal in mind, the changes you make to your training habits can prove to be detrimental if made for the wrong reasons. In the lead up to the 2012 Olympic trials, I was told in order to improve my performance on the field, I should try to become a leaner, skinnier version of myself.

So I changed my diet. I went along with what I was being told to do, even though I’d had great success at a slightly heavier weight and higher body fat percentage, and became much leaner than ever before. It seemed like a successful change at first, but I didn’t have nearly the results I’d had before. And I believe becoming leaner than my body naturally wanted to be was what caused my ACL to tear. In the end, it cost me heavily going into the 2012 London games. The takeaway for me, and hopefully for you, is that it’s important to know what works for you and your body and to not compare yourself to others. You should do your research and experiment with your diet to find what makes you feel the best, rather than focusing on what you look like. Today, if I feel like having a chocolate chip cookie, I have one, just not every day.

I’ve learned what a properly balanced meal for my body looks like and I recognize food as the fuel that keeps me throwing. I hydrate and allow myself time to recover. And I listen to and communicate with my body so that I can be the best version of myself. In the end, you are in control of how you see, treat, and respond to your body. We only get one and it’s amazing to discover how many things our bodies can do. Be a true sport athlete. Love who you are in this moment and get excited for all the places your body will take you.

A Good Sport Lesson Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Izy Isaksen, Team USA, Modern Pentathlon, Olympian, US Army Sergeant, and True Sport Ambassador. Today, I want to talk to you about being a good sport. There are three things I’d like you to know. First, real winners act the same toward their opponent, whether they win or lose. Second, follow the rules and be a gracious winner and respectful loser. And third, sportsmanship reveals your true character.

I started competing in Modern Pentathlon eight years after my older sister and three-time Olympian, Margaux Isaksen, began competing. I soon realized that people often compared the two of us. I would overhear spectators and teammates asking, “Who’s the better athlete,” and “Who’s going to beat the other.” Instead of letting outside pressures create a negative experience for us, I chose to practice winning and losing with grace and respect. I know that it would have been easy to let our hyper competitive mindset affect our relationship, but instead we decided to support and cheer for each other, regardless of our own performance. My experience of competing against and being compared to my older sister, taught me to focus on how to perform at my best, rather than putting wasted energy into wishing for others to fail.

I believe that sportsmanship reveals true character. So, no matter what situation I encounter during competition, I know it’s important to always treat people with respect and be a good sport. Remember, be a fierce competitor, find grace in all your victories and losses. And I hope to see you out there.

What Kind of Coach Do You Want to Be? Video Transcript

Edwin Moses: You’re a coach. Maybe what you want is very simple, for everyone to just run in the right direction, score for their own team, to try and try again and again. Maybe you want your athletes to become all stars. You want them to earn trophies, medals, win titles. You want them to reach the highest height their sport allows. And wanting all of that, of course, that’s good. But as every great coach discovers, developing a great athlete means nurturing, nurturing the even greater person within. Truth is, you have even more influence than you know.

You have the ability to affect even deeper change, to take what’s in your hands and do something even more extraordinary. You can be both the coach who provides the skills needed to win the game and the coach who helps them learn and succeed beyond the sport, to become all stars wherever they land in the future, and to enjoy their lives more now, because the confidence and courage they find working with you will stay with them when they need it the most. There are games to be won, lives to change. Coaches have the power to do both.

I’m Edwin Moses, and the lessons I’ve learned through sport have challenged me, guided me, and shaped my life forever. What kind of coach do you want to be?

THE SIMPLE TRUTH: DECODING THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

At first glance, dietary supplements look the same. They seem safe and healthy, but just because the label says a product is a dietary supplement, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Unfortunately, you can’t tell whether a product is safe or not just by looking at the label. Most vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other supplements containing nutrients are probably just fine, but supplements are not evaluated or approved by FDA before they are sold. Although it is rare for vitamins or minerals to be contaminated with drugs, there has been at least one case of a vitamin containing an anabolic steroid.

At the other extreme are products that contain drugs, stimulants, anabolic steroids, or other hormones. Even though these are not technically dietary supplements, many of them are labeled as supplements. For example, body-building products sometimes contain anabolic steroids or Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, known as SARMs, or other hormones. Some pre-workout or energy products contain illegal stimulants like DMAA, ephedra, or other amphetamine-like stimulants. Weight loss products might contain prescription drugs like sibutramine, or hormones, like human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG. All natural or herbal sexual enhancement products might contain hormones or Viagra-like drugs. Products like these can harm your health and career, but they’re for sale online, in some nutrition stores, and they’re labeled as dietary supplements.

When you pick up a supplement, especially one that promises performance enhancement, you don’t know if it belongs in the “Mostly O.K.” pile or in the “Dangerous” pile. After all, two products might look the same, but one might contain just amino acids and other legitimate ingredients, while the other also contains anabolic steroids. Because of this, FDA has issued a warning about certain categories of supplements: body building products, weight loss products, and sexual enhancement products. Be extremely careful when considering a supplement in one of these categories. We strongly recommend that you avoid products in these categories.

Even when FDA tests supplements and finds dangerous ingredients, companies sometimes refuse to recall them. Sometimes, they simply repackage their product and continue selling it under a new name. Just because a product is on a store shelf doesn’t mean it is safe. You need to do your research and be an informed consumer. The dietary supplement industry is enormous. Supplements that appear to be safe could actually be dangerous products in disguise. If you use dietary supplements without doing your research, you may be taking serious risks with your health and your career. Please visit USADA’s Supplement 411 for more information about dietary supplements.