<ol><li>Reduces mortality for those who self-reported engaging in the practice 5-6 hours per week.</li><li>Improves muscle strength, balance and flexibility. Evidence is inconclusive, but it links regular tai chi practice to physiological and psychosocial benefits.</li><li>Boosts cognitive and memory functions in older adults, especially verbal working memory. </li><li>Reduces chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) symptoms by boosting endurance and peak exercise capacity.</li><li>Betters night-time sleep quality in adults with cognitive impairment. </li><li>Reduces symptoms of fibromyalgia to a similar or greater degree than aerobic exercise. </li><li>Improves respiratory function and heart efficiency.</li><li>Reduces risk of falls among older adults. </li><li>Reduces prenatal anxiety, depression and sleep disturbance.</li><li>Reduces chronic nonspecific neck pain.</li></ol>

10 Benefits Of Tai Chi According To Research

<div>
Tai Chi is a mind-body practice that originated in China and remains today the most common form of exercise for adults in that country. In addition to the much-researched benefits for reduced mortality from moderate-intensity exercise, such as you get from regular walking and jogging, <a href="">researchers </a> found the first evidence that tai chi also promotes longevity. The greatest benefit from tai chi was obtained from those who self-reported engaging in the practice 5-6 hours per week. 
Improve muscle strength, balance and flexibility. A systematic of older patients with chronic conditions who engaged in regular tai chi exercise found that, in addition participants' physiological and psychosocial benefits, the practice also appeared to promote better balance control, flexibility, strength, respiratory and cardiovascular function. Researchers noted, however, that it was difficult to state firm conclusions about the reported benefits and called for more well-defined studies to drill down to specific, verifiable results. In other research, a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12966613">clinical trial </a> of older women with osteoarthritis who completed a 12-week tai chi exercise program found participants experienced improved arthritic symptoms (less pain), balance and physical function. Researchers urged a larger-sample longitudinal study to confirm use of tai chi in arthritis exercise management. 
Boost cognitive function. Although the fact is that cognitive decline is prevalent among older adults (about 40 percent of older adults in America have some form of cognitive impairment, such as and <a href="https://journals.lww.com/alzheimerjournal/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2001&amp;issue=10000&amp;article=00002&amp;type=abstract">Alzheimer's Disease </a>), it need not be considered a foregone conclusion. Nor should getting older need be synonymous with cognitive decline. A growing body of evidence points to the benefits to older adults from practice of tai chi in the areas of global cognitive and memory functions, especially verbal working memory. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254613000720#bib2">meta-analysis </a> found agreement with the findings of numerous studies on the benefits to cognitive function from physical exercise, and researchers recommended tai chi as an alternative mind-body exercise to improve older adults' cognitive functioning. 
Improve COPD symptoms. An <a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/pulmonology/smokingcopd/34141?pop=0&amp;ba=1&amp;xid=tmd-md&amp;hr=trendMD">Australian study </a> found that a modified tai chi program - Sun-style tai chi - helped boost exercise capacity and improved participant's chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) symptoms. Researchers noted that tai chi has "highly clinically relevant effects on endurance and peak exercise capacity in people with COPD." 
Get better night-time <a href="https://psychcentral.com/sleep/">sleep</a> quality. A 2016 pilot randomized controlled evaluating the benefits of tai chi qigong (TCQ) on night-time sleep quality of older adults with cognitive impairment found better quality of both sleep and life than a control group not participating in tai chi qigong. Since <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3062259/">more than 25 percent </a> of older adults with cognitive impairment suffer impaired sleep quality, the search for nonpharmacological approaches to improve the quality of night-time sleep is gaining momentum. Due to their low physical strength and medical condition, however, many older adults with cognitive impairment cannot engage in certain exercises. Thus, developing exercise programs tailored to mental conditions and reduced physical is important. Results from the pilot trial showed tai chi qigong participants benefited from improved sleep qualities in the areas of sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and the <a href="https://psychcentral.com/news/2010/05/24/tai-chi-for-mental-health/14015.html">mental health </a> component of quality of life. Researchers noted that, as a low-intensity exercise, TCQ is an appropriate intervention to improve night-time sleep quality in older adults with cognitive impairment. 
Improve symptoms of fibromyalgia. In a comparing the effectiveness of tai chi and aerobic exercise on fibromyalgia symptoms in patients, researchers found that tai chi resulted in similar or greater symptom improvement than aerobic exercise. Longer-duration tai chi provided greater improvements, researchers noted, concluding that the mind-body approach of tai chi may be a viable therapeutic option in the multidisciplinary management of fibromyalgia. 
See improvements in cardiovascular fitness. Millions of Americans exercise to help boost their cardiovascular health. Yet, many who do so do not realize the research-backed evidence that certain types of exercise specifically benefit cardiovascular function. Indeed, zeroing in on what types of exercise benefit the heart in healthy adults is only recently attracting researcher interest. A of 20 studies of healthy adults comparing tai chi exercise with non-intervention found that tai chi has a significant impact in improving heart efficiency by reducing resting blood pressure, resting heart rate, and enhancing stroke outcome and cardiac output at quiet reading. The review also found significant improvement in respiratory function from tai chi exercise. 
Reduce risk of falls. Among older adults, the risk of falling is an ever-present and major concern. As such, finding therapeutic approaches to help reduce fall risk in this cohort is of major importance. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873959816300746">2016 review </a> of 10 randomized controlled trials examining tai chi's effect on fall reduction found the ancient Chinese exercise demonstrates a significant protective effect on fall prevention risk among older adults. Researchers noted the need for additional trials to determine both optimal duration and frequency of tai chi programs and optimal style of such programs for older adults. 
Reduce prenatal <a href="https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/">anxiety</a> and <a href="https://psychcentral.com/depression/">depression</a>. A of tai chi and yoga treatment for prenatal women with and <a href="https://psychcentral.com/disorders/depression/">depression </a> found that the tai chi group had lower scores in depression and anxiety, as well as lower scores in sleep disturbance at the end of the 12-week, once-per-week sessions. 
Obtain moderate benefits for chronic nonspecific neck pain. <a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/living-with-chronic-pain-and-depression/">Chronic pain </a> sufferers are always on the lookout for effective pain relief that is nonaddictive, effective and safe. A found that a 12-week program of tai chi resulted in more than 50 percent pain reduction in 39 percent of patients with chronic nonspecific neck pain, compared with more than 50 percent pain reduction in 46 percent of study participants engaging in conventional neck exercises. Researchers noted that both tai chi and conventional neck exercises are safe and effective. They said further that tai chi may be a suitable alternative to conventional neck exercises. 
<div>
10 Benefits of Tai Chi for Better Overall Health, Well-Being and Living Longer 
</div>
Related Articles 
</div>

"The reason I exercise is for the quality of life I enjoy." - Kenneth H. Cooper In the search for effective ways to experience positive outcomes in the all-important life aspects such as overall health, well-being and mortality, one of the sleeper strategies to consider involves adopting an ancient Chinese practice called tai chi.

10 Benefits of Tai Chi for Better Overall Health, Well-Being and Living Longer

10 Benefits Of Tai Chi According To Research

Mila W.'s ideas are part of this journey:

Related collections

Similar ideas