TY - JOUR
T1 - Mindfulness and psychological health in practitioners of Japanese martial arts
T2 - a cross-sectional study
AU - Miyata, Hiromitsu
AU - Kobayashi, Daisuke
AU - Sonoda, Akifumi
AU - Motoike, Hibiki
AU - Akatsuka, Saki
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Hiroyuki Aoki and Akiko Yoshida, Tenshinkai (General Incorporated Foundation), and Akira Watari, NPO Tenshintaido, and Takahiko Maruyama, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, for their assistance in recruiting the participants and for useful advice about drafting the survey sheets.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by Waseda University Grants for Special Research Projects (Project numbers: 2018A-005 and 2019E-016) and by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18K03187. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, decision to publish, or in writing of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Background: Empirical data have suggested that mind-body practices that originated in Eastern traditions can cause desirable changes to psychological traits, the brain, somatic physiological functions, etc. Martial arts in Japan refer to the physical/mental practices that were developed based on historical combat techniques. Today, martial arts are considered activities that seek embodiment and/or mind-body unity, as well as sports. Empirical studies involving practitioners of Japanese martial arts to date remain scarce. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey using a cross-sectional design to examine whether the practice of martial arts based on Japanese traditions are associated with mindfulness and psychological health. Participants included a population of practitioners of martial arts with a practice period of 0.6–35.0 years, and non-practitioners matched for demographic variables. Results: Compared with the non-practitioners, the practitioners of martial arts had significantly higher scores for mindfulness and subjective well-being and lower scores for depression. Among the practitioners of martial arts, a longer period of practice or a higher frequency of daily practice significantly predicted higher mindfulness and psychological health. Conclusions: The results obtained are consistent with those previously obtained for other populations of Japanese contemplatives, and support the view that practice of multiple Eastern mind-body practices might be associated with similar desirable psychological outcomes. A cross-sectional design has limitations in that it is difficult to determine the effect of continued practice, so that a longitudinal study that follows the same practitioners over time is desired in the future enquiry.
AB - Background: Empirical data have suggested that mind-body practices that originated in Eastern traditions can cause desirable changes to psychological traits, the brain, somatic physiological functions, etc. Martial arts in Japan refer to the physical/mental practices that were developed based on historical combat techniques. Today, martial arts are considered activities that seek embodiment and/or mind-body unity, as well as sports. Empirical studies involving practitioners of Japanese martial arts to date remain scarce. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey using a cross-sectional design to examine whether the practice of martial arts based on Japanese traditions are associated with mindfulness and psychological health. Participants included a population of practitioners of martial arts with a practice period of 0.6–35.0 years, and non-practitioners matched for demographic variables. Results: Compared with the non-practitioners, the practitioners of martial arts had significantly higher scores for mindfulness and subjective well-being and lower scores for depression. Among the practitioners of martial arts, a longer period of practice or a higher frequency of daily practice significantly predicted higher mindfulness and psychological health. Conclusions: The results obtained are consistent with those previously obtained for other populations of Japanese contemplatives, and support the view that practice of multiple Eastern mind-body practices might be associated with similar desirable psychological outcomes. A cross-sectional design has limitations in that it is difficult to determine the effect of continued practice, so that a longitudinal study that follows the same practitioners over time is desired in the future enquiry.
KW - Depression
KW - Dispositional mindfulness
KW - Japanese
KW - Long-term practice
KW - Martial arts
KW - Subjective well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097248989&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85097248989&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s13102-020-00225-5
DO - 10.1186/s13102-020-00225-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097248989
VL - 12
JO - BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation
JF - BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation
SN - 2052-1847
IS - 1
M1 - 75
ER -