Exercise and Self-Esteem: Benefits Across Age and Ability

Exercise promotes higher self-esteem in individuals of all ages and physical capabilities, as long as the individual enjoys the particular exercise program or perceives definite and measurable benefits from participating in it.

Professional athletes are among the most self-assured individuals in our society. Many studies have shown that these individuals are highly paid, yet the majority of them would continue to work at their sport for free. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is that these specialists genuinely enjoy what they do and feel they receive an obvious reward for doing it. They are, in a very real sense, paid for exercising.

Exercise provides many benefits, and athletes receive a unique benefit that many laypeople are simply unaware of. Professional athletes gain the benefit of added self-esteem. As research in exercise psychology has long recognized, "Speculation regarding the interactions between physical activity and self-esteem can be traced back to the origins of sport and have been of concern to physical educators throughout the history of the discipline. During the past two decades, however, we have witnessed a resurgence of interest in body-self interactions in sport due largely to advances in exercise psychology" (Guthrie).

Self-esteem is the ability of an individual to meet the demands of life's challenges while maintaining a sense of happiness and avoiding self-doubt and other depression-related effects. Because of this, self-esteem is considered an extremely important component of a healthy psyche by the medical and psychological professions.

With America's marriages continuing to maintain a fifty percent failure rate, television and fast-food culture promoting sedentary lifestyles, and the educational standing of students declining relative to the rest of the world, younger generations face an uphill climb to maintain positive self-worth and healthy self-esteem. It is our collective responsibility to provide ourselves and our communities with the opportunity to maintain secure self-esteem. As Gavin and Spitzer argue, "Environmental features that entice people toward activity offer another buffer against the encroachments of sedentary lifestyles. Good sidewalks, walking trails, community facilities, convenient class schedules, and worksite fitness centers contribute inestimably to society's message to stay active. You play a critical role in informing, inspiring, and instructing those in and around the intersecting worlds of physical activity, sports, and leisure-time recreation. Outreach is the operative word. Move fitness into the community — retirement homes, schools, the workplace. Reach out with both word and action. Talk the talk — of fitness, health, and the good life that one experiences most reliably in a physically fit and active body. Research gives you the tools to communicate, debate, identify the groups most needing your help, and strategize your approach. Use these tools well for the health of the world in which you live" (Gavin and Spitzer).

As the middle-aged population is called upon to produce more with fewer resources — due in part to the retirement of the baby boomer generation reducing the overall workforce — many middle-aged individuals will feel pressured to maintain their incomes with less leisure time, which can result in lower self-esteem. Meanwhile, baby boomers who are unprepared for retirement may experience diminished self-esteem as they confront the gap between their expected and actual circumstances. Self-esteem is essentially how one perceives one's own self-worth and value as a human being. Building self-esteem is an important first step toward happiness and the sense that life has something to offer.

Self-esteem can increase an individual's confidence. When a person has confidence, they are more likely to respect themselves and, in turn, find it easier to respect others — improving relationships and promoting overall health. Low self-esteem, on the other hand, can cause feelings of depression, unhappiness, and a general lack of confidence, making it more likely that the needs and desires of others will take precedence over one's own. Additional symptoms of low self-esteem, such as negative self-talk and self-criticism, direct the subconscious mind toward stumbling during difficult moments.

Many people feel that modern life presents too many threats to self-esteem. The perception that the rich get richer leaves many struggling to make ends meet. As a result, some turn to self-esteem substitutes in an attempt to fill the sense that something is missing. These solutions — drugs, alcohol, sexual perversions, and other forms of self-destructive behavior — are merely attempts to recapture the balance expected for a healthy lifestyle. However, the side effects of these destructive coping strategies are usually worse than the original lack of self-esteem that may have driven the behavior in the first place.

Exercise, by contrast, is a completely healthy approach to increasing one's self-esteem and provides a vehicle for managing the natural ups and downs of life. Research has demonstrated that removing exercise from one's routine produces measurably negative outcomes. As Gavin and Spitzer report: "After a 14-day baseline measuring period, participants ceased all training (including other strenuous activities) for a 7-day period. They completed questionnaires measuring mood for each of 28 days. Significant increases in anger, depression, negative affect, and tension resulted from the period of training deprivation. The most noteworthy statistic was a 249% increase in total mood disturbance during the deprivation period. No differences were noted between men and women" (Gavin and Spitzer).

The evidence supports the idea that self-esteem can increase for children, adults, and seniors — regardless of race, income, sex, or physical ability — simply by adopting a self-satisfying exercise program. Exercise transcends racial barriers, and the benefits are positive whether an individual is healthy or disabled. As Russell found, "self-esteem is developed by regular exercise and muscle development" (Russell). If someone is participating in an exercise program, believes there will be a benefit to the activity, and finds the program enjoyable, the overall positive effects will quickly increase the participant's sense of self-worth.

The evidence is compelling. In one notable study on martial arts and self-esteem: "Self-esteem changes among adult women who had been practicing Seido karate for at least six months and had acquired the perceived ability to physically self-defend were examined in this study. The research site was a feminist martial arts dojo for women in a Midwestern state. Thirty women, aged 26–62, participated in structured interviews. All of the women perceived improvements in self-esteem after participating in martial arts training for at least six months. These self-esteem changes were perceived to be related to improvement in physical self-perception" (Guthrie). Guthrie's report also showed that the karate training helped women in several additional areas related to low self-esteem, including recovery from psychosexual abuse, eating disorders, substance abuse, and growing up in dysfunctional families.

Once engaged in exercise, individuals tend to become self-motivating and find reasons to increase their own participation. Boyd notes, "This research provides a promising avenue of inquiry for understanding the role self-knowledge plays in the regulation of sport behavior. From a practical standpoint, it also serves to provide insight into functional interventions with the goal of increasing participation in organized sport. Through the identification of those individuals in need of attention or development of self-schema in sport, this line of research has the potential to provide a meaningful contribution. For those who presently disdain their self-image in sport and seek to change it, the implications of this research are far-reaching" (Boyd).

Children represent a population of particular concern. Exercise has become obsolete in the eyes of many children, and parents and educators must address the lack of physical activity and its related consequences: low self-esteem, depression, and anger. Research confirms this connection: "Even with the obvious limitations of self-report questionnaires, the results of this study indicate a significant link between some domains of perceived self-competency and exercise adherence, and between personality/sport congruence and exercise adherence in this group of adolescents" (Russell). Getting a child to participate in a sport like tennis or baseball can even improve cognitive performance. "Sport knowledge tests have been shown to discriminate expert and novice performers, concerning sport-specific knowledge and superior decision-making ability, among youth tennis and basketball players as well as college-age tennis players" (Boyd).

These issues will become increasingly pronounced as television and sedentary entertainment continue to dominate children's leisure time. As Gavin and Spitzer warn, "The future is coming — and it is fat! The rising rate of obesity among children and adolescents bodes poorly for the health and wellness of the coming generation. Close to 10% of exercise psychology research in the past few years addressed questions of youth participation in physical activity. A number of studies focused on age-appropriate appeals to youth through innovative programming, including classes with names like 'Hip Hop to Health Jr.' and 'Move It, Groove It'" (Gavin and Spitzer).