Global sports fever with its economy taking off!
- Health Awareness is on the rise and driving the global economy
With the rise of the global sports fever, governments are actively bidding and participating in large-scale international sports events to create an international image to enhance economic efficiency. The global sports industry market continues to grow and according to the international research organization “Plunkett Research”, the global sports industry in 2015 gross output value at approximately 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars, and by 2020, the sports industry is expected to reach 2 trillion U.S. dollars mark. Euromonitor International, an international marketing company has estimated that the global sports industry will grow at a growth rate of more than 6% in the next three years, and that sale of the global production of sports nutrition supplements will grow from US$30 billion in 2013 to US$52.5 billion in 2020, indicating the huge business opportunities in the global sports industry.
Moreover, Taiwan’s total exports from January to July 2019 that’s being driven by the booming global sports trend, sum to US$186.41 billion, though declined by US$34 billion from US$220.41 billion in the same period of the previous year, the total value of sporting goods exports and the value of total sporting goods production increased year by year. According to the national statistics report issued by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, Executive Yuan, the total value of sporting goods exports was NT$27.5 billion, an increase of 20% over the same period of the previous year, and the output value of Taiwan’s sporting goods reached NT$47 billion in 2018, an annual increase of 8.2% and the first four months of 2019 an increase of 18.3% with reaching NT$16 billion.
In the global sports culture, statistics from the Sports Administration, Ministry of Education had identified that the proportion of men and females that is over the age of 50 years old that are into sports continues to rise, the highest proportion of all age groups into sports. The main purposes for the public to exercise are first “for health” (75.5%), followed by “for a better physique” (15.2%), and lastly for “hobby/fun/interest” (9.2%). The investment of the mature age group in sports shows the popularity of the health consciousness of modern society, according to the table below also found that the proportion of all women in sports in Taiwan increased from 28.2% to 30.4% in 2014. It can be seen that the sports population is not only growing amongst the mature age population but the female population to participate in sports is also increasing. Health has finally become a national movement!
Reference resources：
Plunkett’s Sports & Recreation Industry Almanac 2020
https://www.marketresearch.com/Plunkett-Research-Ltd-v1424/Plunkett-Sports-Recreation-Almanac-Research-12603925/
Estimated Size of the Entire Sports Industry, U.S. 2010-2020, Business and Industry Statistics
https://www.plunkettresearch.com/statistics/Industry-Statistics-Estimated-Size-Of-The-Entire-Sports-Industry-US-2010-2020/
Sports and Entertainment
https://www.euromonitor.com/insights/sports-entertainment
Survey on Taiwanese Consumer Expenditure of Sports in 106
https://www.sa.gov.tw/Resource/
- The difficulty to maintain a constant habit to exercise
Due to the rise in health awareness, more people are willing to participate in the ranks of exercise, but during exercise will encounter variety of physiological problems, such as physical insufficiency, muscle spasms in exercise (commonly known as cramps), muscle aches as well as after sweating the body gives off a smell of embarrassing odor and these are the many reasons lead to people’s willingness to exercise decline. And in the sports population with the highest proportion of mature-aged sports groups, is in the age of persistent bone mass loss. If supplementing of calcium is insufficient it may cause osteoporosis and during exercise is prone to injury, or due to muscle loss caused by muscle endurance deficiency will also lead to sports injury. How to overcome these common problems found in exercising, the correct intake of nutrients and the cultivation of good exercise habits is the next important topic.
Many office workers use after-hours to exercise and leads to no time in having dinner. Exercising on an empty stomach and at this time the blood sugar which is low but simultaneously needs to consume a lot of energy and will experience dizziness, powerlessness, and other symptoms due to lack of physical strength. These not only affect the performance but in a long term will also cause physical burden and the body can’t obtain energy in time, it begins to consume protein in the body and can lead to muscle loss. Therefore, exercise should be supplemented with the appropriate amount of carbohydrates in order to obtain energy, enhance exercise performance, and with protein intake can help muscle production.
Muscle spasms during exercise are commonly known as cramps, which refer to sudden and involuntary contractions of the muscles that result in muscle stiffness and intense pain. Mainly because of the imbalance of electrolytes in the body, so that calcium ion metabolism in muscle cells becomes abnormal, myosin and actin has can’t relax as being continuously bounded resulting in muscle spasms. The possible causes of cramping are: 1. the total amount of water in the body is too low. 2. The electrolyte in the body is imbalanced. 3. Severe exercise without warm-up. 4. Muscle damage, calcium ions directly into muscle cells cause uncontrolled muscle contracting to lead to cramps.
Post-exercise muscle soreness is also the main cause of many people’s inability to adhere to exercise habits, severe muscle strain caused by sports injuries must be treated and rest to recover. But post-normal pain after exercise is considered normal and medically known as delayed muscle soreness (DOMS). High-intensity exercise causes minor fractures of muscle fibers with minor pain; the muscles that have been re-healed through this process will be thicker and stronger than the original muscle fibers. This is the principle of muscle growth, fully exercised muscles after self-heals in becoming stronger and this is the result of exercising. At this point, protein and B complex can be ingested to help repair and grow muscle tissue and relieve muscle soreness.
Body odor produced after exercise is also a problem for most people and the reason is that after a large amount of sweat is not being wiped off or changed into clean clothing in time but continued to remain in a humid and sultry state, this easy to interact with the bacteria on our outer skin, resulting in odor being emitted or, due to excessive intake of animal protein caused by toxin accumulation in the body and give off a strong body odor.
In addition, the senior population with a high proportion in the sports population is at the age of bone loss. The reduced bone density makes the bone structure fragile and easier to break or fracture when moving. According to the World Osteoporosis Foundation, an increase of 10% in bone density in youth can delay osteoporosis by 13 years. The earlier we start taking care of our bones by taking more calcium, vitamin D3, and protein to accumulate bone calcium to enhance bone density. Exercise increases calcium absorption while strengthening muscles supports and protects bones.
Reference resources：
Delayed onset muscle soreness: treatment strategies and performance factors
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12617692/
Muscle Soreness After a Workout: Can It Be Prevented?
https://www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2021/sep/muscle-soreness-after-a-workout-can-it-be-prevented/
Workout Injuries: Prevention and Treatment
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/workout-injuries-prevention-and-treatment#1
How to Stay Active Forever
https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-08-2012/how-to-avoid-injury-during-exercise.html
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