Can Martial Arts Help with ADD and ADHD?
Can Martial Arts Help with ADD and ADHD?
In a word, YES!
If you spend any time watching the news, scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and you have children, you have seen the advertisements, videos, and information about ADD and ADHD's impact on your child's health. While not all of it is true, here are a few quick facts about ADD and ADHD.
- ADD and ADHD are on the rise.
- In less than a decade, it has risen over 40% according to the CDC.
- Boys are 3 times as likely as girls to have ADD or ADHD
Well, what does this mean and what can we do to fix it???
Here are a few tried and true ideas.
First, get your kids into some sort of physical activity. Telling an elementary school aged child to sit still all day is a recipe for disaster. Many studies have shown more physical activity helps reduce the symptoms of ADD and ADHD.
With recess, gym and physical activity being reduced in school, and tablet and phone time being increased, it is important to find that outlet elsewhere.
So what do you do? Just turn them loose in a field and see what happens?
LOL NO!!!! Definitely not.
According to Dr. Edward Hallowell of Harvard University, child psychiatrist specializing in learning problems;
“Martial arts training offers mental discipline and physical exercise. It provides kids with an ideal opportunity to master self-control.”
A major benefit of Martial arts, and more specifically grappling sports, is that students have a one on one, hands on interaction with their coaches.
Dr. Hallowell continues;
“A sport in which kids just run around and let off steam is not going to help a child with ADD, particularly if he’s hyperactive,[and] He may get revved up and never rev down again. Better to stick with structured activity.”
This is what makes grappling, judo, BJJ, and wrestling such a great sport for kids. They have one on one and small group training, in a structured environment, where they can test their minds, bodies, and sprits, without breaking everything in the house!
As an adult who was diagnosed over and over and over with ADD and ADHD as a child, I can tell you one thing is certain. I was never as well behaved in school and at home, as I was during wrestling. This still holds true as an adult. If I miss too much training time, I become restless, unfocused, and just irritable. Wrestling and BJJ has changed my life, and I hope it can help you or your kids as well.
- Johnny Buck
Owner Rogue Combat Club
BJJ and Wrestling coach.
ADHD Survivor lol.
