Guest post by Evolve MMA, Asia’s premier championship brand for martial arts. It has the most number of World Champions on the planet. Named as the #1 ranked martial arts organization in Asia by CNN, Yahoo! Sports, FOX Sports, Evolve MMA is the top rated BJJ gyms.
With the increasing demands of our busy schedules and day-to-day stress, it comes as no surprise that we sometimes fail to take care of ourselves properly. Hence, we end up compromising our health and as a result, our immunity suffers and we fall sick easily.
If you notice that this has been happening to you, then maybe you might have increased your vitamin intake or started drinking more orange juice. However, this alone would not boost your immune system as much as you wish to. So why not start strengthening it (and your body) by training martial arts?
Want to get in the pink of health? Then read on! Today, Evolve Daily reveals 5 Ways Martial Arts Improves Your Immune System:
1) It reduces the production of stress-related hormones
Sparring is a great way to take your training to the next level.
Feeling stressed from work, or life in general? Well, instead of hitting your usual bar for some drinks, why not head to a martial arts gym! Trust us, your stress would vanish quicker than your hangover will. So put on those boxing gloves or gi and spend that hour experiencing an endorphin rush like no other.
If you don’t already know, your body produces cortisol, which is a hormone that is released from the adrenal gland whenever you’re stressed out. Unfortunately, when your body has high levels of cortisol, you’re more vulnerable to infection and illness. However, before you let this piece of information stress you out, you should know that training martial arts can help reduce cortisol levels in your body.
Every time you train, your body goes through a low-level form of stress due to the fact that you get your heart racing and trigger hormonal changes. Over time, your body would become immune to this kind of stress, and as a result, become stronger and help you cope with other forms of stress better.
2) It boosts detoxification
BJJ World Champion Alex Silva teaches at Evolve MMA.
As much as we hate to admit it, we sometimes don’t treat our bodies with enough care. Hence, we indulge in unhealthy junk food or alcoholic drinks – without thinking about the toxins that we introduce to our organs. In order to boost the detoxification process, it’s crucial to get moving! This is to ensure that your body can effectively stretch, circulate, breathe and sweat. By increasing your breathing and heart rate, as well as drinking more water, you would enable your body to flush out those toxins, waste and fats.
Moving your body encourages the circulation of blood and lymph, which plays a role in purifying and cleansing your organs. Besides that, your heart muscles get strengthened and your lungs increase in capacity as they produce and expel carbon dioxide as a waste product. Your skin also helps to get rid of toxins whenever you perspire.
3) It improves the quality of sleep
You can burn up to 1,000 calories in a 60 minute Muay Thai training session.
How much sleep do you get every night? A study has shown that you are 4 times more prone to falling sick if you sleep for 6 hours or less. So if you struggle to fall (or stay) asleep at night, then perhaps you should start training martial arts! This is because training consistently at a regular time would encourage your body to re-align its internal clock so you can get those much needed quality ZZZ’s every night. What’s more, you would be tired from training and as a result, be able to sleep better. Hence, your body would have the chance to repair itself effectively.
4) It strengthens your body’s healing ability
You don’t have to be Wolverine to recover quickly. All you have to do is start training martial arts! This is because when you engage in regular physical activity, you can recover more quickly, and heal more easily, while keeping diseases and injuries at bay.
“There is no medication or nutritional supplement that even comes close to having all of the effects exercise does,” shares David C. Nieman, PhD, author of The Exercise-Health Connection: How to Reduce Your Risk of Disease and Other Illnesses by Making Exercise Your Medicine (Human Kinetics, 1998). “It’s truly the best medicine we know of.”
It encourages healthy lifestyle choices
Ever notice that you tend to make healthier choices – be it choosing nutritious food or having an early night – after a workout? Research has shown that regular exercise and maintaining a healthy diet both ultimately lead to better health – so people can switch between the two easily. What’s more, when you reach a point where exercise becomes a habit, you no longer need as much mental effort, which gives your brain the chance to think of new ways to feel better. By leading a healthy lifestyle on top of consistent training, you would definitely be taking care of your body the way it needs to be taken care of.
There’s no doubt that martial arts can benefit your body greatly, that’s why we believe that it would help you to get into the best shape ever – inside out. Now that you know what you can do to give your immune system that much needed boost, go forth and punch your way to great health!
