This document discusses the psychological effects of diet on an athlete's performance. It covers several topics: the definition of sports psychology and how nutrition plays an important role in health, growth, and cognitive function. Nutrition directly impacts an athlete's performance as the food they eat is converted to energy. There is both a physiological and psychological component to hunger. Problems like eating disorders may occur when trying to satisfy psychological rather than physical hunger. Theories of hunger are discussed from biological, learning, and cognitive perspectives. The connection between the brain and eating behaviors is explored, as well as links between depression, diet, emotions, and cognition. Healthy diet and exercise can help reduce cognitive decline.

1. QAMAR Abbas BS13-30
Ch Shumaila BS13-60
University of the Punjab Lahore

2. PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF DIET ON PLAYER’S

3. PSYCHOLOGY:
The scientific study of mental processes
and behavior.
The behavioral and cognitive
characteristics of a specific individual,
group, activity, or circumstance.

4. SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY:
Sports Psychology is the "scientific
study of the psychological factors that
are associated with participation and
performance in sport, exercise, and
other types of physical activity."

5. NUTRITION:
The process of providing or obtaining
the Food necessary for health and
growth.
Or
The process of eating the right kind of
Food so you can grow properly and be
healthy.

6. Continue
Nutrition plays important role in human life,
including growth, optimal brain and cognitive
function.
The performance you get out of your body is
directly impacted by the fuel you put into it and
the player performance is directly impacted by
the foods you eat.
Your body converts food to energy and requires
proper nutrition to build the muscle that will
increase strength and speed for an athlete.

7. Mind and Body Connection of Hunger.
There are two kinds of hungers; one is
caused physiologically, and the other is
caused psychologically. What makes
human beings different from animals is we
eat not only to feed our bodies to satiate
physiological hunger, but also to feed our
minds to satiate psychological hunger as
well.

8. Continue
Problems like eating disorders
and obesity could occur
because we mistakenly keep
trying to satiate our
psychological hunger by eating
food.

9. Three theories of Hunger
• Hunger and Eating Based on Biology
• Hunger and Eating Based on Learning
• Hunger and Eating Based on Cognition

10. Hunger and Eating Based on Biology
Many theories of hunger are historically discussed from the
biological component. Cannon and Washburn 1995 came up with the
stomach contraction theory which states that we know we are
hungry when our stomach contracts. In the notorious balloon study,
Washburn trained himself to swallow a balloon which was attached
to a tube, then the balloon was inflated inside of his stomach. When
the balloon was inflated, he did not feel hungry.

11. Hunger and Eating Based on Learning
Hunger cannot truly be explained only by the biological component.
As human beings, we cannot ignore our psychological hunger.
we humans use an external clock in our daily routine, including
when to sleep and when to eat. This external time triggers our
hunger. For instance, when the clock says 12 pm, lunch time, many
people feel hungry just because it is lunch time. This hunger is
triggered by learned behavior.

12. Hunger and Eating Based on Cognition
Colors also contribute to hunger. Looking at a yellow banana makes
one to want to eat it, but a red banana does not.
Color greatly affects our hunger. Many people eat foods base on
their knowledge of what foods are good for them.

13. Feeding Your Brain
You may already know that your brain and body partner up when it
comes to deciding what and how you eat. One is constantly signaling
the other to communicate information about how hungry or full you
are.
Your brain, specifically your hypothalamus, is your body's food
control center. Hunger and fullness are registered here, appetite is
controlled.

14. Depression and diet
A number of cross-country and population-based studies have linked
the intake of certain nutrients with the reported prevalence of
different types of depression. For example, correlations between
low intakes of fish by country and high levels of depression among
its citizens – and the reverse - have been shown for many types of
depression.

15. Food effects on Emotions
Studies have found that diets low in carbohydrates increased
feelings of anger, depression, and tension and diets high in protein
and low in carbohydrates increased anger. Diets high in
carbohydrates have a generally uplifting effect on mood.
For example, our favorite foods usually trigger positive emotions.
A person who thinks that drinking a cup of coffee will increase
alertness might feel more alert even after drinking coffee.

16. Cognition, exercise and diet
Healthy diet and exercise are associated with a reduced risk of
cognitive decline and may provide opportunities to reduce the
threat of cognitive decline.
Those who report some level of mental health problem also eat
fewer healthy foods and more unhealthy foods.

17. References
• Ali, A., and C. Williams (2009). Carbohydrate ingestion and soccer skill performance during prolonged intermittent exercise. J. Sports Sci.
27:1499-1508.
• American College of Sports Medicine, the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada. (2000). Nutrition and Athletic
Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Retrieved 1st August, 2006 from http://acsm-msse.org
• American College of Sports Medicine; American Dietetic Association; Dietitians of Canada. Joint Position Statement: Nutrition and
Athletic Performance. American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association, and Dietitians of Canada. Med Sci
Sports Exerc 2009; 41: 709–731
• Aoi W, Naito Y, Yoshikawa T: Exercise and functional foods. Nutr J. 2006, 5: 15-10.1186/1475-2891-5-15.