Kicking your way to better attention span

Martial arts require a good level of physical strength, but those who take up training need to develop an incredible amount of mental acuity, too. Mental strength is so important to martial arts that researchers have found karate experts’ stronger punching force may be down to a better control of muscle movement in the brain, rather than increased muscular strength. Other studies have also found that children who practice Taekwondo improved in maths test scores, and behaviour. Which leads to an interesting question – does taking part in martial arts cause the brain to develop better control, or do people with these brain characteristics choose to do martial arts? It is something that our team has been researching, with interesting results. Martial attention We’ve been specifically measuring attention to assess mental control, as previous research has suggested that mindfulness and exercise can both have beneficial effects on attention. You could argue that martial arts are a combination of both – active sports that involve aspects of meditation and mindfulness. In our recently published study, we recruited 21 amateur adults who practice martial arts (karate, judo and taekwondo,...