Pilates has been practiced all throughout the world to improve posture, core strength, and stability. However, research indicates that Pilates offers various benefits to one’s mental health. Joseph Pilates thought that physical and mental health went hand in hand. Hence, the Pilates technique involves both a physical and mental workout. His style emphasizes proper alignment, control, breathing, fluid movement, and concentration.
Here are the top 10 benefits of pilates on mental health:
- Reduces Anxiety:
Pilates’ mind-body method lowers stress and anxiety by releasing tension and improving vitality. Breathing exercises also lessen anxiety by enhancing focus and attention, enhancing blood supply to the brain, and lowering heart rate. During Pilates, the feel-good hormone, endorphin, is released. This hormone lessens all types of tension and helps the body become relaxed.
- Reduces Cortisol Levels and Stress:
Concentration on breathing techniques helps regulate the autonomic nervous system. This helps lower cortisol levels and decrease stress over time. The digestive system, emotions, and mental and physical health can all be negatively impacted by stress. In addition, exercises that are highly vigorous can increase cortisol. Practicing pilates will therefore aid in reducing cortisol levels by dropping your blood pressure and slowing your breathing.
- Improves Sleep:
Lack of sleep is strongly linked to a wide range of mental health diseases and problems. Pilates improves the length and quality of sleep in people under the age of 40 by opening up the joints, stretching and lengthening the muscles, and improving circulation. It raises the quality of sleep by reducing stress as well. Stress is a major contributor to sleep disturbances. Practitioners often report feeling less stressed as a result of the breathing technique and mindfulness. Pilates is an effective workout that is frequently done slowly and properly. Physical activity and attentiveness generally deplete the mind and body sufficiently to relax them.
- Helps Release Emotional Tension:
People are able to increase their creativity and control their emotions when meditation and pilates are combined. This results in better thinking and facilitates the control of a variety of emotions. Your mental well-being and general health can both be improved by the sense of quiet, serenity, and balance that meditation can provide you. Mindfulness also activates divergent thinking and enhances focus which makes it easier to recognize innovative ideas.
- Improves Brain Training:
Pilates helps improve cognitive function. Cognitive deficiencies are common aspects of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Pilates training improves cognitive functions by increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain, supporting neuronal survival in the developing brain, generating new neurons, enhancing mood, increasing neurotransmitters and neurotrophins, and ensuring the survival of neurons in areas responsible for learning, memory, and higher thinking. Therefore, it’s crucial that cognitive health is improved.
- Reduces Pain:
Decreases physical and mental pain by strengthening the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles. In fact, pilates has reduced pain in adults with clinical conditions and hence improved psychological health. Benefits of pilates for chronic pain also include increased functionality, better posture, increased sense of well-being, and a decrease in risk of injury.
- Improves Energy Levels:
Pilates workouts increase cardiorespiratory capacity because they place a strong emphasis on breathing. According to research, this enhances oxygenation, feel-good hormones, and blood circulation. This leads to an overall improvement in energy levels. Greater energy levels are linked to an improved mood. Benefits of pilates for an improved mood include an improved immune system, increased relaxation, improved relationships with others, and a happier life.
- Increases Motivation:
A study discovered that practitioners are often motivated by inner motivation rather than peer recognition. Motivation and depression are frequently linked since depression is characterized by a lack of motivation. Low motivation is harmful both emotionally and professionally. Relationships may suffer as a result of your inability to connect with others. The same lack of energy makes basic self-care difficult, such as exercising, eating correctly, and getting enough sleep, which can lead to mental and physical health issues. Hence, practicing pilates is a great way to improve motivation.
- Helps Boost Mood:
Pilates may help with anxiety therapy by allowing you to socialize, adjusting the amounts of chemicals in your brain (mainly serotonin, cortisol, and endorphins), and offering an escape from negative thoughts and self-doubt. Anxiety is a psychological and physiological condition with physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. When anxiety becomes overpowering, it may be classified as an anxiety disorder. Pilates reduces stress, anxiety, exhaustion, and improves mood. Pilates assists a person in dealing with a difficult circumstance by urging them to cope with it.
- Improves Memory:
Pilates calls for simultaneous use of your body and mind. This often improves memory. Learning a new workout or modification forces the brain to pick up a new skill, which keeps the mind active at all times. According to Healthdirect, the hippocampus, the area of the brain in charge of memory, grows bigger as a result. Additionally, it strengthens the connections between the brain’s nerve cells. This enhances memory and guards the brain against illness and damage.
