Tai Chi Research » Mental Health

Tai chi is found to augment the immune response to the varicella zoster virus.

David Bendall — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:38:58 +0000

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles studied the effects of tai chi on resting and vaccine-stimulated levels of cell-mediated immunity to the varicella zoster virus and on health functioning in older adults. 112 healthy adults over aged 59 to 86 were randomly assigned to receive 25 weeks of tai chi or health education. After 16 weeks both groups were vaccinated with the VARIVAX vaccine, which is licensed to prevent varicella, the virus that causes shingles. The tai chi group was found to have significantly higher levels of varicella cell-mediated immunity than the health education group. Tai chi alone induced an increase in varicella cell-mediated immunity that was comparable in magnitude with that induced by the varicella vaccine alone. The combination of tai chi and vaccine resulted in a substantially higher cell-mediated immunity than the vaccine alone. The tai chi group also had significant improvements in several secondary measures; physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality and mental health.

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Study finds tai chi effective at reducing the impact of tension headaches.

David Bendall — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:16:48 +0000

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles studied examined the benefits of tai chi for individuals suffering from tension headaches. 47 individuals were randomly assigned to 15-weeks of tai chi or to a wait-list control group. The tai chi group showed significant improvements compared to the control group in headache status, pain, energy/fatigue, social functioning, emotional well-being and mental health.

The researchers note that tai chi has a number of benefits compared to pharmaceutical intervention. Virtually all pharmaceutical-based interventions include some level of risk of side effects and some patients find them only partially effective and/or may unable to tolerate them. Tai chi does more than alleviate pain or provide symptomatic relief; it benefits health related quality of life. This suggests that tai chi may address the underlying cause of the pain associated with tension headaches, namely stress.

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Pilot study of stress management via tai chi shows significant benefits.

David Bendall — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:00:15 +0000

Researchers at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany conducted an 18-week pilot study to investigate the clinical effects of tai chi in young adults related to stress management. The researchers measured physiological indicators of stress, blood pressure, heart rate and saliva cortisol and psychological measures including the SF-36 health survey and perceived stress. The study was non-randomized and there was no control group. Of the 21 individuals who enrolled in the study only 9 completed all measurements. Even so there were reductions in saliva cortisol, an indicator of general stress reduction. There was also a highly significant decrease in perceived mental stress as well as several significant improvements in measures from the SF-36 health survey including general health perception, social functioning, vitality and mental health/psychological well-being. The study found that subjective health increased and stress decreased during tai chi. Future studies with more rigorous methodology will be needed to confirm these observations.

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