Muay Thai provides countless mental health benefits. Today’s world is filled with low self-esteem and even people who do not respect themselves. How can they respect themselves if they have not achieved any of their goals in years? This is where Thai Boxing, and basically most other martial arts, come into play.
The benefits of Muay Thai are vast. What we will do in this article is review the seven most prominent mental benefits that Muay Thai, aka Thai Boxing, aka “The art of eight limbs”, training can result in. If you are interested in bettering your mental health and living a more fulfilled and satisfying life, this article is for you.
Today’s world is filled with endless distractions. Social media, FOMO, and many other things distract us from living to our true potential. Not only does social media stop us from living a truly fulfilling life, but more distractions stop us from fully believing in ourselves.
Muay Thai is one of the only activities I found to better the mental health of all its trainees. In my school, I see the same fighters every single week. Therefore, I can see how they act and how they feel. Truth is, not one of them has ever said anything wrong about Muay Thai. In fact, all of them have reported feeling extremely good after training.
Let us now dive into the seven mental health benefits Muay Thia provides. Indeed, it will boost your mental health and allow you to become a much more fulfilled person.
#7 – Better Well-Being
I thought about changing the phrasing for the first benefit for a lot of time. However, I decided to stick with “better well-being” instead of “being happier” for one reason only. This reason is the fact that we should not be chasing happiness.
If happiness were the goal, we would indulge in every single pleasurable activity out there. And most of them, unfortunately (or luckily perhaps) are highly addictive. Back to social media; it is one of the most addicting things you can do, which you can indulge in if your goal is to be happy. But, if your goal is to live a more fulfilling life, then happiness simply is not the goal, but a by-product of hard work and a lot of suffering.
Muay Thai is a suitable platform to increase your well-being because it is an intense exercise that releases endorphins in your brain and allows you to reach your goals. Your well-being depends on how active you are in taking steps to achieve your goals. And Muay Thai will cover that for you.
There is a mesmerizing study1 that showcases the true benefits of martial arts (including Muay Thai.) They surveyed a group of martial artists and asked them to rank different questions. The results are here and, honestly, they do not surprise me.
Likewise, there is another extremely interesting survey that was done as part of this study. The following results showcase the level of health awareness among martial artists. This has everything to do with well-being, which I find very, very interesting.
#6 – Lower Stress
The first mental health benefit from Muay Thai training we discussed was better well-being. This can definitely lead to a more fulfilled and “happier” life. I put happier in quotes because happier does not equal pleasurable, as suffering is a major part of true happiness and fulfillment.
By training in Muay Thai, your baseline stress levels are going to drastically decrease. This is the case because (1) you will release built tension and aggression in the training itself, typically by throwing powerful strikes, and (2) you will go through a highly intense exercise, which decreases overall stress2.
Let us review a thought-provoking study that examines the effects of regular martial arts practice on stress levels. It has been shown that the regular practice of martial arts, which includes Muay Thai, elevates mindfulness levels3. Therefore, decreasing overall stress and elevating feelings of calmness.
Now, mindfulness levels closely correlate with the release of “feel good” hormones, such as dopamines.4
Thus, the regular practice of Muay Thai, which I know for a fact increases mindfulness and focus levels, as I am a Muay Thai fighter! It is safe to assume that Muay Thai will improve your mindfulness then, which will lead to the release of more dopamine and your overall well-being.
To recap, you will be less stressed as a result of training in Muay Thai. Your mindfulness levels will increase in return for your intense training, giving you the ability to further control your stress. Truly fascinating!
#5 – Reduces Anger and Aggression Levels
The same study that I have examined in the previous benefit (#6) also proved that regular martial arts practice reduces baseline anger and aggression levels. You would think that practicing a combative sport, such as Muay Thai, will increase your overall aggression. At least that is what I thought.
However, once I thought about it, I realized that all the Muay Thai fighters I know are friendlier than the average person you meet on the street. They are also more respectful and less aggressive. That got me thinking: “Could it be that Muay Thai, one of the most dangerous, deadly, and aggressive combative sport in the world, reduce overall anger and aggression levels?”
Well, it seems like that is precisely the case.
If you are currently more aggressive or angrier than you would like to be, Muay Thai is a suitable platform to solve that issue for you. This is extremely important to understand, and I hope you understand the true power of consistent and dedicated Muay Thai training!
#4 – Discipline and Insights
The next benefit is one that I find to be true every single time. The fact is, many people today are not disciplined, to say the least. They cannot control their own minds, making them more likely to get addicted to procrastination and to pleasurable activities, such as scrolling on social media.
Muay Thai improves your ability to be disciplined in everything you do in life. Whether you want to work more, start lifting weights, or improve any aspect of yourself, it will help you take the initiative and start working harder than you do now.
If you paid attention, you noticed that the title of this benefit is “Discipline and Insights.” What I mean when I say insights is that discipline typically leads to insights about life. When you are truly disciplined and work extremely hard, you will begin to think about the truly meaningful things in life. The opposite of that would be to constantly distract yourself by bombarding your brain with pleasure and dopamine.
So insights and dopamine are closely linked.
The takeaway is, you will be able to become a much more disciplined person if you do Muay Thai. Not only will it help you perform better in everything you do in life, but it will allow you to understand meaningful things about life. This is the true power of being undistracted and mindful in life.
#3 – Better Self-Esteem
You are now in the most interesting part of the article, at least in my opinion. This is where the best benefits will be. I have truly saved the most valuable for last. Alright, let us get straight into it.
Muay Thai will boost your self-esteem, according to a study5, by allowing you to overcome what you thought was impossible for you previously. We are all living in our minds, and it limits us from fulfilling our utmost potential. As a result, when we get to a certain level of achievement in life, our minds stop us from progressing any further.
I want you to understand this point because this is critical. Take an activity you like doing and truly activate your mind and think about it. Are you stopping yourself in any regard? In my life, I am stopping myself from working on my business, because deep inside I think that I do not deserve success and that I am not better than those who have achieved what I want.
Therefore, I stop myself when I get to a certain point of hours worked per day. Once I have identified that, I realized that I was the only one stopping myself. Muay Thai came into the picture here by allowing me to achieve things I never thought I can do in training. I was winning fights I did not think I am capable of winning.
This gets you thinking about life and your true potential. Essentially, Muay Thai training will help you love yourself better and increase the success boundaries you set for yourself.
#2 – Gaining Self-Respect
The next mental benefit I would like to point out to you is gaining the respect of yourself. If you have lived on this planet for more than 18 years, you know how difficult this can be, especially for people who have experienced some type of insecurity in the past.
Now, how can Thai Boxing help us gain and fulfill self-respect?
Muay Thai will help you gain and improve your self-respect by allowing you to overcome obstacles and push yourself further than you thought possible. Again, you have places where you are convinced you are limited at. But, if you can break these limitations and prove to yourself that you’re capable of more, you will appreciate yourself.
This does sound a bit wishy-washy, but it is really the basics of spirituality. How much self-respect does the person who procrastinates all day have? Honestly, I have been there and I know that it is not a lot. I do not have to cite studies about the relationship between self-respect, discipline, and hard work, as many of the people I appreciate the most and myself have experienced these sides. We have experienced what it feels like to be on the positive and the negative side of yourself.
Muay Thai is fantastic for increasing your self-respect and allowing you to appreciate yourself for all the hard work you are investing in training and learning.
#1 – Increased Confidence
The last benefit we will review is increased confidence. The way you act, and the way you perceive the world, will allow you to curate your reality. I am confident (my worst pun yet) that you can increase your self-confidence by training in Muay Thai.
Your self-esteem and self-respect closely correlate with your confidence. The relationship between how confident you are and how much effort you are investing daily is, indeed, a direct one. The way I experience confidence is: the more effort I put into life and my goals, the more confident I simply am. I do not overthink or overcomplicate things when I am putting in the work daily to achieve my current goals.
And science has my back here. A fantastic study showcased how martial arts improve self-management (self-control), and showed that this directly influences self-confidence.6
Muay Thai will improve your self-confidence in two primary ways. The first is by allowing you to push yourself beyond what you thought possible, beyond your perceived limits. And the second way is by working on your discipline, which directly influences self-management, and that influences self-confidence.
Indeed, there is not only one way to god. Muay Thai will help you in many different ways, which will assist you with another aspect of mental health. I think it is a win-win situation here!
Final Words
Training in Muay Thai is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. I constantly see the same phenomenon in today’s world, in people of all ages. The phenomenon I see is low self-confidence, self-esteem, and not respecting oneself.
This should not surprise you, as today’s world is filled with endless distractions, which purpose is to make us less confident in ourselves. I mean, social media is all about getting you to feel FOMO17 (Fear of Missing Out.) In turn, this will make you less confident in yourself.
And what other way is there to gain the respect of yourself if not by working extremely hard and achieving your goals? This is where Muay Thai will come into play and allow you to improve your mental health.
If you liked this article, you will also benefit from reading about why Muay Thai is the perfect martial art (9 reasons.)
Likewise, here are other articles you will profit from reading:
How to Teach Yourself Muay Thai – Can It Be Self-Taught?
Boxing vs. Muay Thai – The Ultimate Showdown (Knockout)
The Ultimate Guide to Muay Thai Gear: Must-Have Equipment
The Beginner’s Guide to Training Muay Thai at Home
Muay Thai 101 – Complete Guide for Beginners
