Recreational 5-a-side football as an activity to improve mental and physical well-being

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions of health and well-being arising from the activity of one of the most practiced sports, recreational 5-a-side football. In particular we focus on the perceptive aspects specific to this sport, trying to understand what may be the parameters that have a greater physical benefit and what are the psychological improvements. Through some questions asked to a group of 20 boys, aged between 23 and 29, it was found that, for the sample examined, recreational football on a physical level could lead to an improvement in physical endurance (65%), but that does not greatly affect the decrease in body fat (45%). While on a psychological level, it is considered a very relaxing sport (80%) and socially aggregating (95%).Therefore, according to many other studies, this type of activity, both in terms of perceptions and real data, significantly improves the general physical and psychological well-being of the person who practices it.