The psychological health effects of Pilates-mat exercises on women

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of pilates – mat exercises on psychological health of women. It could be seen that bodily exercises have positive physical and psychological effects on human health. The aim is to prove that Pilates-mat exercises could be used for women as physical exercise activities to reduce depression and anxiety, to increase the satisfaction of life and to support coping against stress. 30 women participated this research as test (n=15) and control (n=15) group. Totally 18 sessions of pilates exercise programme which is an hour / three days a week during six weeks period have been applied to women, who were in the test group of this investigation. Meanwhile the women who were in the control group did not join any physical activity. 'Beck Anxiety Scale', ' Beck Depression Inventory' and 'Scale of Life Satisfaction' was used in the process for the data collection of the investigation. The data obtained were evaluated by dependent and independent samples ttests.Although the dependent groups showed differences in terms of effect in the analyzes made with the t-test(for anxiety t=7.31, for depression t=8.52, for life satisfaction t=-4.15, p<.05),it was seen that there was a significant effect only in terms of the life satisfaction variable in comparison with the independent groups t-tests (for anxiety t=-.47, for depression t=-1.47 p>.05; for life satisfaction t = 4.93, p<. 01).Consequently, it was observed that the six-week Pilates exercise program me which is applied to healthy women, who were between the ages of 18 – 50, contributes to the decrease of the level of depression and anxiety but also it contributes the increase of the level of life satisfaction. Keyword: Pilates-mat exercises, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction