First the bad (or not so good) news! According to an article published by Harvard Medical School in April of April 2021, around age 50, there are changes in your brain that can affect your memory and other cognitive functions. It becomes harder to multitask, to focus, and/or to process information rapidly. Around 70, 1 in 6 adults will exhibit mild cognitive impairment. For example, your ability to juggle multiple tasks, to process information rapidly, and to focus on details.
For years, we’ve heard about the numerous physical benefits of practicing Tai Chi. In recent years, practitioners and researchers have started to direct focus towards the mental health benefits derived by regular practice. Medicine (both Western and Eastern) recognize that mental and emotional disorders at any age, have a negative impact on our quality of life and make it difficult to enjoy daily life. We aren’t as productive as we were, we don’t reach our full potential, nor are we able to handle the many daily stressors that come our way.
Tai Chi is often referred to as a “self-healing holistic practice”, as well as “meditation in motion”. However, Tai Chi is actually a powerful, mind-body exercise that physically, emotionally, spiritually, as well as mentally improves the practitioner’s well being.
Now for the good news: The brain does have the ability to change throughout your life. It makes new cells, new connections, and can grow in size. Of course, these changes improve cognitive function. In people without evidence of cognitive decline, Tai Chi improves executive function (what we define as the the ability to multitask, manage time, and make decisions). In people with mild cognitive impairment or decline, Tai Chi can slow the progression and improve their cognition. And, importantly, Tai Chi slows cellular aging and improves our psychological well-being.
All of us encounter stress and frustration, often on a daily basis. How we respond can either diffuse it or allow it have a negative impact on our mental and physical health, including our autoimmune system. Tai Chi teaches us how to achieve and maintain balance and resilience (both mental and physical). We learn to diffuse the stressful and frustrating experiences and to bounce back and recover. With regular practice, we carry this resilience into our everyday lives. We learn not to allow negative experiences to impact our physical and/or mental health. Instead, we cope with them while maintaining balance and a positive outlook.
Many of the positive effects of Tai Chi (and Qigong) are believed to be due to the principles of practice. The slow flowing movements matched with deep abdominal breathing causes the body to relax and keeps our heart calm. Practitioners realize that in order to perform the controlled, deliberate movements, they need to exhibit body awareness. Posture must be correct and aligned in order to balance, feel grounded, and be centered. Intention, a clear mind, and focus are required in order to maintain of the body and mind.
I’m sure you probably get tired of hearing about “mindfulness”. However, if you’ve ever practiced Tai Chi, you learn quickly that you need to concentrate and not allow your mind wander. Being mindful helps us ignore (and hopefully get rid) of the chatter - what we fondly name Monkey Mind”. One of our practice goals is to find stillness and inner peace.
Many studies have been done on Tai Chi and Qigong for treatment and prevention of mental disorders. For those of you who love research and evidence, here are several of the findings:
Electroencephalography (EEG) studies of participants performing Tai Chi and Qigong increased frontal wave activity when compared to exercise controls. These changes showed increase relaxation and attentiveness.
Evidence from randomized controlled studies suggest that Tai Chi and Qigong can be effective in reducing depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, and mood disturbances.
The minimal research done so far supports Tai Chi and Qigong as promising treatments for Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, insomnia, substance abuse, and cognitive impairment.
Indications for Tai Chi and Qigong include situations where there is inadequate response to other evidence-based treatments, where there are physical co-morbidities known to be responsive to Tai Chi and Qigong, for patients who have an interest in interventions that are exercise or mindfulness-based. They are often indicated for older patients who are more susceptible to adverse effects from pharmacologic therapies.*
Researchers conducted a study utilizing either Tai Chi or strength and toning exercises. The participants were elder Chinese with dementia and/or mild cognitive impairment. After 5 months of practice sessions 3 times a week, both groups showed improvements in global cognitive function, delayed recall, and subjective complaints. However, only the Tai Chi group was able to maintain stable clinical dementia ratings. They also showed improvements in visual spans.
Another study of healthy adults with a mean age of 69 years, concluded that Tai Chi produced greater cognitive function improvements when compared to a Western exercise or attention control group. It was also discovered that the Tai Chi participant’s improvement in cognitive functioning continued throughout the next 12 months.
Tai Chi was found to improve motor speed and visual attention in elderly individuals.
According to a June 29, 2021 research study appearing in Frontiers in Psychology,researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine whether 8 weeks of Tai Chi versus aerobic exercise (brisk walking) could improve functional networks in the brain, functional network plasticity, and cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility was significantly enhanced by Tai Chi when compared to the aerobic exercise. As well, the researchers concluded that “Tai Chi Chuan was able to reshape the brain functional network and enhance functional specialization”. The researchers also felt that enhancing brain functional specialization was a predictor of “higher cognitive flexibility”.
Several of the drawbacks encountered when conducting research on the benefits of Tai Chi and/or Qigong are: small sample size, various styles of Tai Chi and Qigong used, instructor training and competence, in addition to the variation in length and frequency of practice.
*Let’s talk a bit about pharmacologic (drug) treatments. Using Tai Chi and/or Qigong practice to treat mental disorders can be important because many patients fail to achieve remission of their symptoms or functional recovery on medications. Medications often have unwanted side effects. This is where Tai Chi and/or Qigong can complement pharmacologic treatment. When combined with Tai Chi and/or Qigong, patients are more likely to be compliant and to have a reduction in their symptoms, achieve remission, and best of all - improve their quality of life!
As I often state in my classes, just as I did when I wrote my May 3, 2019 blog, “Tai Chi Increases Your Cognitive Abilities”
I still haven’t gotten that t-shirt printed!
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