Snus use in football: the threat of a new addiction?

Get your Head in the Game!: A Review of Factors that Impact Collegiate Student-Athlete Mental Health Using a Biopsychosocial-Structural Framework

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Over 500,000 college students compete in the three divisions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) each year. The rates of most mental health issues among collegiate student-athletes approximate the rates among non-athlete college students. In recent years, greater attention has been given to recognizing and treating the mental health concerns of student-athletes. This paper examines some of the specific mental health considerations that may arise when working with student-athletes.

RECENT FINDINGS

Using a biopsychosocial-structural framework, we were able to identify several broad categories of factors that influence the mental health of student-athletes. Within those categories we identified specific diagnoses (such as physical injury), life events (such as early retirement from sport), ways of thinking (including stigma against mental health treatment), and external influences (such as racism and sexism) that impact the mental health of student-athletes. Mental health concerns among college students are common. When working with student-athletes, there are biopsychosocial-structural factors that affect the mental health of student-athletes in unique ways compared to their non-athlete college student counterparts.

Impact of Smokeless Oral Nicotine Products on Cardiovascular Disease: Implications for Policy, Prevention, and Treatment: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association

Smokeless oral nicotine products are addictive, and their use has potential adverse effects on some but not all biomarkers of cardiovascular risk. The use of some types of these products, for instance, is associated with an increased mortality risk in those with ischemic heart or cerebrovascular disease. Similarly, smokeless tobacco has the potential to increase the risk of oral cancer, but the risks depend on the chemical composition of the product. The market of smokeless oral nicotine products has transformed since the last American Heart Association smokeless tobacco policy statement. Several varieties of tobacco-free oral nicotine products-including oral nicotine pouches; nontherapeutic nicotine gums, lozenges, and tablets; and nicotine gummies-have rapidly proliferated. The sales of oral nicotine pouches, in particular, have increased substantially; however, no data are available on their cardiovascular or health risks. In addition, synthetic (compared with tobacco-derived) nicotine has been used in some brands of oral nicotine products, but its cardiovascular and health effects have been inadequately studied. Robust public policy levers are identified to support ending addiction to all commercial tobacco products. Critical components and policy initiatives include clinicians emphasizing the prevention of tobacco product initiation and supporting cessation with established pharmacological and behavioral tobacco dependence treatment therapies as primary goals for achieving an end to commercial tobacco and nicotine addiction.

Sports, Gigs, and TikToks: Multichannel Advertising of Oral Nicotine Pouches

This commentary highlights the aggressive advertising strategies being used to market oral nicotine pouches, including through online media, motorsport sponsorships, and out-of-home adverts. We underscore the need for balanced policy measures that maintain access to reduced harm alternatives for existing tobacco and nicotine users while minimizing exposure to youth and nonusers.

Mental health in individual versus team sports

Across all sports, there has been increasing realization that mental health symptoms and disorders in athletes are common. More specifically, there has been increasing study of differences in mental health between individual and team sport athletes. However, this topic is still under-developed, and no comprehensive review on the topic has been undertaken. This manuscript aims to provide a narrative review of mental health symptoms and disorders, spanning depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance use and other addictive disorders, in individual versus team sports. Findings revealed that individual sports may be associated with relatively more negative mental health than team sports. This includes depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and concepts related to exercise addiction. Substance misuse and use disorders may be an exception to this pattern, with team sport athletes exhibiting higher rates of problematic alcohol use, use of certain forms of nicotine, and possibly use of illicit substances such as marijuana. Reasons for the greater overall mental health risk in individual versus team sports may include relatively more negative self-attribution after failure and less social cohesion/support. Steps can be taken to improve the sporting environment for all athletes-across individual and team sports-in order to optimize mental health outcomes.