I'm the first to admit I'm competitive. I like to get on treadmills next to people who are running hard and set mine to go faster. I play basketball with boys. I push myself to do my best at everything I do, and I always thought that was a pretty good trait.

However, recent research by psychologists Gregory Miller and Carsten Wrosch showed that those who throw in the towel when facing unattainable goals were healthier than those who never give up. They had fewer health problems overall and showed fewer signs of psychological stress.

Well, that's fine and good, but I can't help but wonder about the health benefits of a sense of accomplishment. What do you think?

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Introducing kids to sports is a wise idea. It's steers them away from television and video games, channels their boundless energy, teaches lessons in cooperation and determination and well, it's just good for the body. Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, herself a life-long athlete, says sports are particularly good for girls.

"If you're a mother of daughters, encouraging them to participate in sports is the best gift you can give them," Roberts says. "Playing sports, feeling the competitive drive, winning and losing -- these experiences build self-esteem and character."

Roberts says even grown women become timid because they get stuck feeling they have to be liked by everyone. Sports shakes that out of you, she says. It's the best training ground for adult life.

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Participation in sports during adolescence is supposed to be good for self-confidence but often the opposite happens, sometimes with fatal consequences. What I'm referring to is an article e-mailed to us by one of our readers, Jeremy. It documents a study that explores the prevalence of eating disorders in athletes. Strong, healthy bodies are required of most athletes, but sometimes being lean seems more important than being strong, and in serious athletes -- people who by nature are accustomed to setting their sites high and sacrificing for the ultimate goal -- the desire for the perfect body can lead to cases of anorexia and bulimia.

In fact, the statistics are so alarming that it's being said that among female college athletes, a third of them suffer from some sort of eating disorder. A third. That's truly frightening. What's also scary is that in fit individuals who are already thin, the disorder can sometimes be overlooked because being thin and being highly active are linked.

Read the article and let me know your thoughts.

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