By Jay Patel
Guest Writer

Martial arts is nearly 4,000 years old, starting in India in connection with Zen Buddhism, and rapidly spreading throughout Asia. Modern martial arts, such as karate, teach not only fighting skills but physical, spiritual, medical and psychological strength.
While learning self-defense skills is important, fitness concerns top the list of reasons people train in martial arts. Physical benefits of martial arts range from muscle strengthening to stress release.

The benefits a person from taking martial arts are: cardiovascular fitness, explosive power, limbering, weight control and strengthening. Studies involving children and adolescents participating in martial arts have shown improvements in their muscular strength, flexibility, balance, and anaerobic power.

Learning martial arts doesn’t just benefit an individual physically, but also gives individual spirituality strength. This advantage of martial arts is essential for individuals, who try to cope with today’s hectic lifestyles. Martial arts have positive effects on the mind as its training involves intense concentration and self control.

Practicing martial arts can help one control one’s aggression, and maintain a calm and tranquil conduct at most times. Additionally, maintaining a calm attitude can boost the level of confidence, increase internal peace at the same time, and give an energized feeling at all times.
The last effect martial arts impacts an individual is psychologically. Participating in martial arts has enhanced various positive psychological variables, while reducing some negative aspects.

In a survey by Pennlive, children who participated in martial arts show significant improvements in the martial artists’ tension, depression, and anger scores. Additionally, several parents noticed that their children, who join martial arts, increase their self-confidence excessively. These are only some of the psychological benefits; an individual may potentially receive, if he/she accepts to take the martial arts challenge.
Finally, not only do martial arts benefit an individual physically, spiritually, and psychologically; it benefits the individual medically as well. Joining martial arts may potentially prevent the likelihood of getting hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, osteoporosis, obesity, and anxiety states.

In addition, other medical benefits of joining martial arts are: it helps prevent mild to moderate mental depression, chronic fatigue, and breast and colon cancers. One of the proverbial diseases that can be reduced through martial arts is asthma. It can help overcome the breathing problem which is usually brought about by constriction of the bronchioles, the smallest tubular passages before the air sacs, and expiratory wheezing.

By participating in martial arts an individual can gain several benefits, such as medical, spiritual, physical, and psychological improvements. One of the major medical benefit martial arts can help prevent, is asthma. Secondly, a major spiritual benefit an individual may receive by joining martial arts is the ability to maintain a tranquil attitude, inside and outside of the martial arts building.