Mental health is just as important as physical health, but it often gets overlooked. Fortunately, martial arts are one activity that can benefit both your body and mind. Physical activity is generally great for people’s emotional states, but martial arts in particular encourage the kind of introspection and emotional control that can dramatically improve mental health. Practicing could have a marked effect on your mood and stress levels, as well as give you the tools to maintain a healthy mental perspective going forward. Here are just a few of the ways martial arts can benefit mental health:

It eases anxiety

In today’s world, anxiety is one of the most common problems people deal with. It has several degrees of severity but it’s nothing martial arts can’t ease. Through this sport, you will be able to find your center more easily and reconnect with yourself.

Even simple breathing exercises can be extremely beneficial for mending one’s anxiety. Aside from that, martial arts also helps you relieve negative tension through exercise and lower your stress levels. Both of these are crucial for having anxiety under control. The techniques you’ll learn here can be used in real life situations when you would otherwise lose your mind.   

Improves physical health

Though mental health affects how your brain thinks and feels, it can often have roots in how your body is functioning. Poor physical health can have an awful impact on your mental health. This can be direct – for example, if you experience chronic pain or an illness, the symptoms of that condition can wear on your mental state. However, it can also be more subtle and insidious. Physical activity causes the brain to produce chemicals that reduce stress and increase happiness. Without activity, these chemicals aren’t released, and your mood drops.

The great thing about physical activity as a risk factor for mental health is that you can change it. Many people find that exercising more often has a significant effect on their emotional state. Picking up a physical hobby like martial arts gives you a regular source of physical activity, as well as guidance to ramp up the difficulty level at the appropriate rate. This means you don’t have to worry about potential injury from overexertion, which can discourage you from continuing. Instead, you can make healthy habits that will last.

Builds confidence

Most physical activities increase confidence in one way or another, but martial arts are built on a foundation of encouraging self-trust and self-awareness. Trusting one’s own judgment and skill is a pillar of all martial arts practices. When you study, you learn how to hone your instincts and abilities, and gain a stronger understand of what both your mind and body can do. Through practice, martial artists develop a deep and unshakable form of confidence they carry with them through all aspects of their lives.

It builds self-discipline

The number one thing you’ll get with martial arts is self-discipline. This is because you practice how to control your body and your mind through martial arts. You need to set a certain goal in your head and then work towards achieving it.

That can be easily transferred to everyday life to help you reach any goal you set. Self-discipline is all about practice, and that’s most easily achieved in a controlled environment. In order to reach big goals and be in complete control of your body and mind, you need to start small. Martial arts also teach you the right and most efficient way to do so.  

Provides an outlet

Mental health issues can cause and be exacerbated by excess energy. For example, anxiety disorders often trigger a malfunction of the fight or flight response, which releases adrenaline. Since there’s no genuine threat, there’s nowhere for that energy to go, and as a result, the sufferer can crash, and the leftover adrenaline can manifest as stress, as well as physical symptoms. Any exercise can provide an outlet for this, but because martial arts is so explosive, many find it an ideal choice. Practice makes for a great way to work through any kind of powerful emotion, be it stress, sadness, anger or fear.

Encourages emotional outlet

The most important and unique thing martial arts offer to one’s mental health is emotional awareness and control. Unlike many other sports, Karate actively call for introspection. Practitioners are asked to consider their emotional state and motivations repeatedly throughout each class. This practice of actively checking in with one’s mental state, when done regularly, carries well beyond class time. Eventually, it becomes a habit martial artists bring with them at all times. Emotional awareness is a powerful tool, and Karate practitioners learn to hone that tool and use it to their advantage. This is useful for anyone, but it can make a world of difference for someone dealing with mental illness.

Karate ASD & Asperger's

Karate can be repetitive and this suits the way those with ASD and Asperger Syndrome like to learn and process information. It is also fact based and routine is important within the classes. Again this is well suited to AS.

The potential student may wish to visit a class a couple of times before enrolling – to see and get used to a particular environment and become confident with the instructor. This is absolutely fine and we welcome the visit. It gives us a chance to have a chat with student, and parents or guardians beforehand to see how we can help and make the training enjoyable and of benefit.