Football has many benefits for children and adolescents. Children who play sports like football have improved physical, mental, and emotional health. Some have said that youth football is child abuse because head impacts negatively affect a child’s brain; however, youth football builds strength in children that enhances their long-term brain health.

Strength can come in many forms like physical strength or muscle mass and mental strength like grit. Building strength can enhance brain development and maintaining strength will increase brain and body longevity.¹ Because football builds strength in children, playing football can set the stage for enhanced brain health long term.

This article will discuss how strength enhances brain longevity and why football is a great sport to build physical, mental, and emotional strength. Here are the topics:

Physical Strength Is Linked to Longevity

Increased Muscle Mass Improves Brain Health

A Mentally Active Mind Drives a Healthy Brain

Grit Is Associated with Brain Resilience

Why Football Builds Strength in Children?

Football Builds Strength Physically

Football Builds Strength Mentally

Football Builds Strength Emotionally

Physical Strength Is Linked to Longevity

Physical strength can be defined as the ability to lift, move, or pull heavy objects. While it is often associated with muscle mass, muscle strength does not directly correlate to the amount of muscle mass.

Instead, physical strength is the ability of a muscle to contract at a high force that the nervous system allows. In other words, the brain governs physical strength. So, it only makes sense that physical strength is linked to brain health and longevity.

For example, increased hand grip strength in the elderly has been associated improved cognition, mood, sleep, and overall quality of life.² People who live longer tend to be more active, and hence, they may just have higher grip strength from lifting objects, gardening, and normal daily tasks.

Grip strength can be a measure of frontal lobe activation in the brain.³ The frontal lobe is necessary for executive functioning skills like planning, decision making, and short-term memory. Hence, increased grip strength equals a strong frontal lobe. And a strong frontal lobe improves brain functioning and long-term brain health.

Increased Muscle Mass Improves Brain Health

On top of physical strength, muscle mass is also associated with improved brain health. As stated above, muscle mass is not directly correlated to physical strength because strength comes from the brain. Hence, building and maintaining muscle mass is independently beneficial for the brain. Why is this the case?

First, muscle is an organ that needs energy for function. Muscle burns more energy in the body than other tissues because it is metabolically demanding. This helps prevent energy excess, high blood sugar, obesity, and inflammation. Maintaining blood sugar balance and lowering inflammation is essential for brain health.

Second, all muscles send and receive signals to and from the brain. The more muscle tissue means more signaling to the brain and more tissue for the brain to control. This naturally activates the brain, and brain activation helps to maintain neurological functioning. Hence, building and maintaining muscle mass can be an effective way to activate the brain.

Looking at these together, decreasing inflammation and exercising can decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimers.⁴ Muscle mass can help balance blood sugar and decrease inflammation—on a healthy diet—which preserves brain tissue. Then, weightlifting not only builds muscle mass but also stimulates the brain to improve learning and memory.

When should we build muscle mass? Muscle mass is easier to build for children, adolescents, and young adults. As age increases, building muscle mass is more difficult.⁵ This is due to decreases in hormone levels and poor protein digestion and utilization. The more muscle mass we build when young, the easier it is to maintain these metabolic and activation benefits as we age.

A Mentally Active Mind Drives a Healthy Brain

Mental strength is another form that increases brain health. Mental strength can be separated into the ability to learn a new fact or skill versus the ability to overcome negative emotions. The latter will be discussed in the next section.

When someone is challenged to learn a new skill or task, the brain gets a workout.⁶ While muscle activation stimulates the brain from the bottom up, mental activation self-stimulates the brain through a variety of connections.

There are many ways to keep the brain mentally active. Reading fiction activates creative and visual areas in the brain, whereas reading nonfiction activates memory centers. Learning a new skill activates coordination areas that will drive other areas in the brain like the frontal lobe.

Challenging the brain helps the nervous system develop and change shape.⁶ Think about a baby trying to learn to roll, crawl, stand up, and walk. It is not the end goal but the process that stimulates the brain to grow and change. A child studying for a math or history test is the same. The process activates the brain to change. If the information wants to be retained, then repetition for a long period is necessary.

Similarly, adults learning a new game like pickleball are challenged in two ways. First, they need to learn the rules and strategies to win. Then, they must learn how to coordinate the muscles to move laterally and hit the ball. Both didactic and motor learning will drive a healthy brain.

Grit Is Associated with Brain Resilience

The second form of mental strength is the ability to overcome emotions. Personal failures often challenge an individual’s mindset. Giving into negative feelings causes self-doubt and fear of activities and social interactions. In contrary, challenging the mind to overcome these negative feelings helps develop grit.

Grit is an attribute of strong character that is synonymous with courage.⁷ Grit allows an individual to have an optimistic mindset and persevere towards one’s goal despite impeding obstacles.

Unfortunately, some children develop grit by having adverse childhood experiences that threaten their survival.⁸ This may be physical or sexual abuse, separation of parents, or loss of a loved one. While some are significantly affected by these experiences, others develop grit that increases their brain resilience to overcome future obstacles in life.

On the other hand, children can develop grit when they are in controlled yet challenging situations where they may fail. Any competitive event, game, or match—whether it is academic or in sport—force children to develop grit.

Why Football Builds Strength in Children?

Football builds strength in children because it is hard physically, mentally, and emotionally. Many other sports also challenge children to build strength, and children should be encouraged to play multiple sports. However, I argue that football is the best sport for building strength because it equally influences all three aspects.

By building strength in children, football can improve one’s long-term brain health and overall life success.

Football Builds Strength Physically

Physical strength is built by training the body. Recent evidence shows that children who play football have greater lean body mass and whole body mineral content and less fat mass than children who do not.⁹ Football involves more weightlifting and physical training than most sports.

Weightlifting is the most obvious way to build physical strength and muscle mass. About 95% of high school football teams include in-season and off-season weightlifting programs. This is not the case for many other sports.

These weightlifting programs help children build upper and lower body strength. The community of teammates make these programs fun. Encouragement helps build muscle faster in a safe environment with the correct form. Team lifting also forces children to lift more than they thought they could and overcome failures, as we will see below.

Physical training is necessary for all sports, but football is greater in frequency and intensity. During in-season practice, football trains the entire body for speed and power, which are essential for playing the game.⁹ Blocking and shocking a block both need upper and lower body speed and power. Same goes for tackling and breaking a tackle.

Then, during competition, football requires using all that physical strength to win small one-on-one battles with an opposing player. Using this max strength and power during games will further help football build strength in children.

Football Builds Strength Mentally

Mental strength is built by training the mind to learn new skills and tactics. Team sports are complex and can cause mental fatigue.¹⁰ They involve learning and practicing new techniques and game strategy, but football strategy often changes week to week.

While limiting contact practices can decrease injury risk, so can teaching and using proper techniques. Coaches then utilize more practice time to work on these techniques. Learning and practicing proper coordination of individual skills builds mental strength. Often, coaches add new skills to learn each week.

Furthermore, limiting contact practices leads to more “chalk talk” and film-room time. Adolescents study the nuances of football rules, which challenges them to better understand the game. Film time is another opportunity to praise proper techniques and correct mistakes to enhance learning and decrease injury risk.

Time off the field is necessary for learning the mental strategies of playing football. While every team sport involves strategy, the offensive and defensive playbooks for football are extensive. There are many formations and plays to learn, remember, and execute. Then, players need to learn how to run those plays against different opponents each week. This is how football builds strength mentally in children.

Football Builds Strength Emotionally

Emotional strength is built by challenging the body and mind to overcome obstacles. Playing sports is a fantastic way to build emotional strength, and football is no exception. Football is especially beneficial because failure is inevitable.

In the offseason, weightlifting involves max days to see how much weight can be squatted, pulled, and pressed. These days are hard on the body and mind. They often involve failures where the weight cannot be lifted. Rather than falling into self-doubt, the individual needs grit to quickly forget the failure to attempt the lift again or to max the next day.

Similarly, practice is difficult because players sometimes need to push their body past perceived limits. This may be during a conditioning segment or an up-tempo part of practice. That segment may not end until all players properly complete the task. Grit is required to overcome team failures, give physical and mental effort, and stay together with a positive mindset.

Lastly, football games involve many small individual battles that build emotional strength. About 30-50 battles occur per game on each offense and defense. They are rarely won in every instance, and sometimes, more are lost than won. With football’s physicality, the losses may be demeaning and embarrassing. Again, grit is necessary to overcome these failures.

Football builds strength emotionally in children due to its physical nature and difficulty.

Conclusion

Many factors influence long-term brain health. These include exercise, diet, sleep, and environmental exposures. Building and maintaining strength is also effective at optimizing brain longevity.

Strength comes in many forms, which all need to be addressed. Physical strength comes from the brain. More muscle mass means greater brain activation. Mental strength is the ability to learn new facts and skills along with overcoming emotions with grit.

All forms of strength are addressed by football. Football builds strength physically by forcing children to push their bodies while practicing and weightlifting. Football builds strength mentally by teaching children new formations, plays, and techniques. Lastly, football builds strength emotionally by challenging children to overcome physical and mental obstacles.

Building muscle mass when young is important because it is much easier than for the elderly. Similarly, when children develop grit in a safe environment early, they can better overcome failures in adulthood. Hence, it is best to build strength early in life.

Football builds strength in children that, when maintained, enhances brain longevity.

References

1. Pentikäinen H, Savonen K, Komulainen P, Kiviniemi V, Paajanen T, Kivipelto M, Soininen H, Rauramaa, R. Muscle strength and cognition in ageing men and women: The DR’s EXTRA study. Eur. Geriatr. Med. 2017;8,:275–277.
2. Bohannon RW. Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults. Clin Interv Aging. 2019;14:1681-1691.
3. Herold F, Törpel A, Schega L, Müller NG. Functional and/or structural brain changes in response to resistance exercises and resistance training lead to cognitive improvements – a systematic review. Eur Rev Aging Phys Act. 2019;16:10.
4. Altug Z. Resistance exercise to improve cognitive function. J Strength Cond. 2014, 36, 46–50.
5. Karlsson MK. Skeletal effects of exercise in men. Calcif Tissue Int. 2001;69(4):196-199.
6. Sheffler P, Rodriguez TM, Cheung CS, Wu R. Cognitive and metacognitive, motivational, and resource considerations for learning new skills across the lifespan. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2022;13(2):e1585.
7. Duckworth AL, Peterson C, Matthews MD, Kelly DR. Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2007;92(6):1087-1101.
8. Petruccelli K, Davis J, Berman T. Adverse childhood experiences and associated health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Abuse Negl. 2019;97:104127.
9. Hernandez-Martin A, Garcia-Unanue J, Martínez-Rodríguez A, et al. The Effects of Football Practice on Nutritional Status and Body Composition in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2021;13(8):2562.
10. Yuan R, Sun H, Soh KG, Mohammadi A, Toumi Z, Zhang Z. The effects of mental fatigue on sport-specific motor performance among team sport athletes: A systematic scoping review. Front Psychol. 2023;14:1143618.