Combined Tai Chi and Health Qigong exercises for improved well-being.

The incidence of age-related chronic diseases is increasing and there is a rising number of people with multiple chronic conditions. Urgent action is needed to prevent the consequential heavy burden on the current health and social care systems. Physically inactive lifestyles are increasingly believed to contribute to long-term chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, etc.

Tai Chi and Health Qigong exercises are a diverse set of gentle physical exercises that coordinate body movements, control breathing, and calm the mind. The exercises have been recognised as suitable for any age group including those over 50 and those suffering from chronic diseases.

As an academic university researcher and a qualified instructor for Health Qigong and Tai Chi, I have designed and conducted health aging research projects in the local community. The aim of this project was to investigate the effects of combined Qigong/Tai Chi exercises on body balance, flexibility, muscle strength and mental well-being in those aged over 50 from a local community in Liverpool, England.

The studies were carried out under ethical approval from the local Research Ethics Committee and informed consent was obtained from all participants. The 12 weeks of combined Tai Chi and Health Qigong exercises in each group session were conducted for 60 min and consisted of a gentle general warm-up for 10 min, a simple combined Qigong/Tai Chi warm-up for 15 min, a 6 min break with social conversation, Health Qigong Ba-Duan-Jin with music for 12 min, 24 steps Yang style Tai Chi exercises for 12 min and gentle cooling down for 5 min at the end. Health parameters were compared in participating individuals before and after the combined Qigong/Tai Chi exercises.

Today I would like to share one of the important results demonstrating improvement in well-being after 12 weeks of combined Tai Chi and Health Qigong exercises as shown in the picture below.  Particularly the proportion of participants with high well-being scores increased significantly after 12 weeks of intervention.

Overall, the results showed both physical and health well-being benefits of regular combined Tai Chi and Health Qigong exercises. If you are interested in participating in private online lessons in Tai Chi, feel free to get in touch.