Can MMA Help Depression?

Are you struggling with depression? Are you prone to experiencing depression in your life? I have good news and bad news for you. Let’s start with the bad news.

Depression seems to be a growing problem in life in a modern society. And this isn’t just a case of people being more willing to talk about it or admit it more. As a society, we really are becoming more depressed. There are actual scientific studies that proves this, such one published study that examined data that covered over seven million people from the 1982 to 2013. And this problem goes deep. Government statistics suggests that every year at least 16.2 million adults in the United States will experience major depression. The problem of depression is real and it is growing.

Here’s good news. There is something that is growing faster than the depression crisis. It’s the sport of Mixed Martial Arts or MMA.
If you are one of the people who are suffering from depression, you might want to give MMA a closer look.

The sport of MMA is skyrocketing in popularity. For the past two decades MMA has been the undisputed champion in sports world in terms of growth and the trend isn’t slowing down. More and more people are watching the sport, and more importantly, more people are engaging in the sport. This means that there are also many more opportunities to train in MMA which should help you beat the blues.

MMA is a sport. It has long been know that sports helps relieve depression. Engaging in sports is well-documented to improve your mood, aside from a whole host of other mental benefits. During exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins which elevate your mood and do a host of other benefits as well.

Any sport that gets you out of you dark place will help. After all, when you are depressed, sometimes just getting out of bed can be a challenge. Anything that gets you out of your room to get you engaged in physical activity will help. MMA never gets boring. There are so many skills to learn.

Like every other strenuous physical activity, MMA helps you sleep better. This is especially when you do it regularly. Science tells us that regular exercise is a highly-effective way to get you to sleep better, especially of you keep at it. This can be especially valuable for you if you are experiencing depression, people tend to either sleep all day, or sometimes lose sleep the whole night.

There are lots of sports out there. So what makes MMA an ideal sport for those who are prone to depression?

As a sport, MMA has many modes. What I mean by this is that there are a variety of circumstances you can put yourself into. You can train in MMA as individual sport sport. You can just do conditioning exercises or work on the punching bag the whole day. You can also train in MMA as a group sport. You can have an awesome time socializing with your teamates while you do drills, work out and spar.

In MMA you don’t have to talk much if you don’t want to. On days you are feeling down, you can go into training without hardly saying a word. On days when you’re feeling better, you can get talkative. However, the opportunity for interaction will always be there. And due to the nature of the sport, it’s more likely that the sociable side of you will be brought out.

This might not happen with a sport that keeps you by yourself a lot, like running or swimming. You can literally get by these sports without saying a word to your teammates for months. Meanwhile, for people prone to depression, team sports can be a challenge. Your teammates can get pissed if you miss too much training in a game like soccer or basketball. However, in MMA, most people won’t mind if you miss a training session or two. In fact, you only have to train once a week.

MMA gets you connected to people. No sport builds camaraderie like MMA. Isolation can lead people to depression, and having really good friends helps keep us out of the funk. MMA can gives a lot of opportunity to be close to people. While it is an individual sport, it is a sport that requires close cooperative training with each other.

Also, MMA is a tough sport. When it comes to toughness I can’t think of many more grueling sports than MMA. It seems the more physically punish a sport is, the closer the bond you forge with your teammates. When you share a common experience of suffering or hardship, you develop a special closeness. It’s for this same reason that soldiers in the same unit become such close friends. Some of my closest buddies are the people I trained MMA with. MMA is a place to forged lifetime friendships.

There is another aspect of MMA that helps depression. MMA is not just a sport, it is also a martial art. While the benefits you get from MMA as sport are important, as discussed earlier, the benefits you can get from MMA as a martial art are just as important, if no more so.

MMA helps strengthen your mind. It is martial art. The fighting spirit you develop to battle your opponents will also keep you battling against the circumstances of life. If you are prone to depression, it can feel like you have a losing battle. MMA can help teach you to keep fighting.

MMA teaches discipline. The discipline to get up and get going is one of the core attitudes a martial artist learns. When depression just wants you down and out for the day, it is discipline with will tell you to keep on standing up and going.

MMA as a martial art teaches you to focus on others. When you are depressed, it is easy to focus on self-pity and your own conditions. As an MMA fighter, you have to focus on your coach and teammates. You have to be in tune to the feelings of others. Doing this helps you readjust your perspective of the world.

MMA can help depression. MMA is both a sport and a martial art. This gives MMA both a physical platform to elevating your moods, and a mental one to keep your mind strong. MMA has both physiological and psychological benefits that help cure depression.