The Unique Stress Treatment of Martial Arts on the Adolescent Demographic

Abstract

In the 21th century, the phenomenon of stress and mental fatigue is ever so common in the age group of adolescents and teens. At a crucial time in their lives and in their transition to adults, the coping strategies and methodology in which these young adults deal with stress is largely unpatterned and inconsistent. With the unique hurdles that adolescents experience in dealing with their future and academic challenges, the need for alternate treatment or therapy in the adolescent demographic is crucial in securing their physical and mental wellbeing. Martial arts can be used to treat this unique stress. The effects of martial arts on the general stress levels and mental states of a small group of experimental adolescents was observed through an experiment of 14 participants before and after a martial arts session in order to evaluate the effectiveness of such treatment based on correlations drawn from subcategories organized by ordered levels of anger management, levels of stress frequency, levels of martial arts experience, and levels of exercise frequency. Main findings of the trial include a general reduction in stress levels across all participants of the martial arts experience and encouragement of martial arts as a stress reducing platform. Further subcategories of the trial revealed additional traits of anger management on mental states and stress levels. Limitations include the experimental nature of the trial, limited exposure to various martial arts, and limited pool of participants or the diversity of the demographic studied.