The Health Benefits of Tai Chi
Tai Chi can help to alleviate the symptoms of many diseases such as shingles, Parkinson disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes and improve posture, weight loss, balance, memory and concentration too. The Mayo clinic lists the following benefits on its web site:
- Reducing anxiety and depression
- Improving balance and coordination
- Reducing the number of falls
- Improving sleep quality, such as staying asleep longer at night and feeling more alert during the day
- Slowing bone loss in women after menopause
- Lowering blood pressure
- Improving cardiovascular fitness
- Relieving chronic pain
- Improving everyday physical functioning
But how? How can one slow, simple exercise do all this?
Well, Tai Chi health form is performed slowly and as perfectly as possible whilst trying to relax into the moves as much as you can. This, of course, takes practice, but like walking up the stairs or brushing your teeth it becomes second nature over time. The more practice is put into repeating the moves the easier they become to remember as your body takes over from your brain.
Although you have to use your muscles to perform these exercises there are no external or additional weights used. This tones the body and with the correct posture, allows the muscles to build up without jerking or strain to support the soft cartilage and tissues within the joints. Those with arthritis or recovering from injury find Tai Chi beneficial, as it is such a low impact exercise program. The movements also massage your internal organs, which strengthen their membranes and help them to function more effectively.
When your body slows down so does your mind. Your breathing slows and becomes deeper without you even trying. Whilst you are concentrating solely on the movements involved you cannot think about anything else, especially any problems you might have. This reduces stress and the benefits last long after you have finished practicing. This creates a virtuous circle which just gets better and better. As your mind becomes clearer so does your thinking. Answers to problems present themselves to you; you develop deeper concentration and remember many more items effortlessly.
All of his helps to make this relaxed state your normal state of being rather than the stressed people which most of us are. Stress depletes the immune system. Deep breathing allows toxins to be cleared from the lymph glands thereby aiding the immune systems. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that Tai Chi may improve immune function and health in older adults at risk for shingles.
In one study, 36 men and women aged 60 and over, took a 15-week program of Tai Chi (three 45 minute classes per week) or a wait list control. After 15 weeks, there was an increase in varicella zoster virus-specific immunity and health functioning in people taking Tai Chi.
As you gain more energy you will see an improvement in the quality of your sleep too. Combine with the actual exercises involved in Tai Chi and an improved sleep pattern, this can aid weight loss and help obesity. A team at Columbia University has reported that people, who get four hours sleep per night or less, are 73% more likely to be Obese, than those who sleep the recommended 7 hours. The result came from a study of 18,000 people. Over time blood pressure can normalize too.
Back pain can be alleviated by better posture and improved muscle tone. In Tai Chi you hold the head directly on top of the spine and flatten the spine. This allows the two columns of muscles on either side to take the weight of your body rather than the L4 and L5 vertebra, a common site of back ache and allows you to stand straight you will not lean forward or backwards, again taking the pressure off of L4 and L5.
Tai Chi increases the flow of chi or vital energy within the body. Chi flows where blood does not and some students report tingling sensations in old injuries as the chi begins to flow again.
Parkinson Disease affects the balance and co-ordination centers of the brain. Tai Chi actually improves balance. in the 1996 Atlanta study Tai Chi was found to reduce falls in the elderly by 47.5% too.
