How times change. We now learn that boxing has had a substantial resurgence and is very much favoured by many National Health Service doctors in Britain, with some actually prescribing the sport as an antidote to depression, particularly for women.

Boxing is not only the fastest-growing individual sport in the country but seems to have escaped the current condemnation in football, both codes of rugby and to some extent cricket as potentially damaging to health because of the escalating number of head injuries leading to dementia.

It is a curious situation, but the benefits of boxing on the NHS were recently highlighted in an article by the renowned Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell.

In it she describes how she "Boxed away the breakup blues" after a painful split from a long-term partner. She did so, she says, on the advice of a doctor friend. "Whether it is coping with a break up or a breakdown - which as we women know so much to our sorrow, often tend to go hand-in-hand –- I found there is one genuine remedy venting your frustrations and despair by pummelling either a punchbag or a sparring partner."

She joined "a very sweaty local gym" under the tuition of another friend, Ronnie, a personal trainer. "Just imagine you’re punching his face," Ronnie suggested, and she did. "And I go so far as to say that the pure joy of hitting out when you feel powerless is something of an aphrodisiac. Boxing gave me my va va boom back at the moment when I felt at my lowest."

When the gym closed during the first lockdown she and her trainer would work out and spar together on Hampstead Heath in North London.

"That’s the brilliant thing about boxing, you don’t need a gym," writes Platell."You can do the exercises anywhere, even as a beginner." She adds: "A boring old jog would never have tempted me out (In wintry conditions) but the sheer exhilaration and brutality of boxing reaches the parts of a woman’s brain that no other exercise does. When we box those energising endorphins go rushing around our nervous system straight to our brains. They block out pain receptors and leave us with feelings of pleasure and well-being akin, according to the experts, to a hit of morphine. Nothing can compare with the exhilaration of imagining you are whacking your tormentor (just imagining of course). But then I suspect pugilistic DNA is in my blood."

Platell says her Irish great-grandfather worked his passage on a ship to settle in Australia after being caught winning bare-knuckle boxing contests - then, as now, an illegal sport.

According to Platell she knows of many friends who have been introduced to boxing by their doctors. "There is no doubt boxing has transformed my life apart from giving you a punch drunk high and sore in confidence. It also transforms your body. You might not fancy being a fighter but your love is the results of the exercise."

Platell admits to being 64. "But I’m happy to report there are no bingo wings flapping here as punching strengthens the muscles all along your arms and shoulders. And there’s no need for a midlife boob job either, as repeated right and left hooks firm up the pectoral muscles."

Some medics believe that not only does boxing training, including sparring, help control weight problems, but the mental benefits are equally as profound. "A childhood friend was recently dumped by her husband for a younger model after 22 years of marriage. In one of the more despairing calls she pleaded for advice on how to ease the pain. Boxing, I said," writes Platell.

The boxing authorities - not to mention UK Sport - doubtless will be delighted to hear of the health benefits of controlled fisticuffs. Interestingly the boxing boom, with gyms flooded with applications from wannabe fighters who don't necessarily want to involve themselves in actual ring combat (some do have professional aspirations), sees the balance tipped in favour of female fighters. Some 63,000 of the 85,000 members of London’s booming boutique boxing gyms are women who say that as well as boosting their confidence it improves their core strength.

Astonishingly, free boxing classes for women can be prescribed on the NHS. Like Platell, there are hundreds of depressed women - and probably men too - now determined to box their way back to happiness.

Boxing is one of the best forms of exercise around, says London GP Dr Mohammed Abbas Khaki in another Daily Mail article, engaging every muscle from biceps to brain. "Punching boosts upper body strengthening, crouching works the legs while constantly improving your mood and feeling of well-being. This contributes to what is known as boxing high - a euphoric energised feeling after a session."

Dr Mike Loosemore, chief medical officer for GB Boxing, says there's nothing like punching a heavy bag to rid you of your frustrations. "The criticism of boxing is that it celebrates violence but in fact it allows people to express their feelings in a controlled way. Channelling aggression or disappointment into a discipline like boxing helps us cope with our primal feelings and feel strong mentally and physically."

He maintains that like all martial arts, boxing also gives women the confidence from a self-defence perspective.

Who would’ve thought that a punch on the nose could be beneficial to our well-being? Dear Dr Summerskill would be turning in her proverbial.

So, seconds out. Happy Christmas you female fight game aficionados. Not forgetting Boxing Day!