tai chi lowers BP better than aerobics does

[everything]

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... indfulness

In the study, researchers in China randomly assigned 342 adults with prehypertension to one of two interventions. The average age of participants was 49. Roughly half the people participated in supervised aerobic exercise, including jogging, climbing stairs, brisk walking and cycling. The other half was trained to practice tai chi. Both groups got hourlong sessions four times a week.

After 12 months, those in the tai chi group saw bigger drops in their blood pressure than those in the aerobic exercise group. What's more, nearly 22% of the people who practiced tai chi saw their blood pressure fall to within normal range, compared with nearly 16% of people in the aerobic exercise group. And fewer patients in the tai chi group went on to develop hypertension than in the aerobic exercise group.

Previous research has found that tai chi is more effective than brisk walking at lowering blood pressure, fasting blood sugar levels and perceived stress in people who have hypertension.

[Steve James]

The question is why. I'm guessing that whatever tcc they practiced wouldn't be considered 'proper' tcc by many tcc people. So, does that mean that all forms of tcc will offer the same benefits or have the same results?

[G. Matthew Webb]

The study is available here:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamane ... le/2814872

From the paper: "The 24-form Yang-style Tai Chi, consisting of 24 standard movements, was adopted for the Tai Chi intervention."

So a sensibly short and widely available version of Tai Chi was used. I would suggest that the results are generalizable to any slow-moving tai chi form.

[Bao]

Aerobics doesn't care about the mind. In Tai Chi, breath, mind and body movement are integrated. Aerobics is just physical training, in Tai Chi you learn how to regulate and control your mind-breath-body state. Of course Tai Chi must have a much better long-term effect. It's a no-brainer, IMO.

[GrahamB]

I see the “I do my own research” crowd is out again… I really wouldn’t get too excited about one single trial. From the headline you’d think tai chi is better than aerobics right?

Brisk walking accounted for the highest proportion (48 [34.0%]) of all exercise forms in the aerobic exercise group

The headline should be :

Tai chi is better than walking! ( for people who already have high blood pressure only )

Sounds less impressive, right?

I’d say if you made the control group do an actual aerobics class then both waist size and blood pressure would have reduced significantly more in the aerobics group compared to tai chi. In this trial there was no difference in waist size between the walkers and the tai chi group at the end of the trial.

[everything]

Brisk walking is probably “aerobic” (using the “talk test”) or maybe as “aerobic” as this study group can / would do.

Good ideas for other study / counterpoints.

[Steve James]

Hmm, there's a relation between blood pressure and aerobic capacity. Usually, iinm, people with higher ac have lower blood pressure -because the heart is stronger. So, the people in the tcc group "should" have improved ac too. No/

It's interesting that the 24 was used, since many consider it the least tcc of all. My original question was 'why' doing any tcc variety is better. If the 24 works, would simply doing movements slowly be better than doing aerobic exercise? Does it have to be tcc, or is it just an example?

Another issue is anaerobic training, but imo this becomes a question of goals. Some people can't do much aerobic or anaerobic exercise, so exercises like tcc suit them (and can improve their physical condition beyond). And there's the thing, tcc can be made to be physically challenging enough for anyone. It can be isometric or/and aerobic. Imo, what makes it even better is that it's more interesting than just doing push ups, running, or walking. (I won't say cycling, but I'm biased). And, the process of doing it can be meditative, which probably helps lower bp too. Not to mention, we can at least bs about martial arts and stuff.

[Peacedog]

Two things come to mind...

1. Tai chi when properly done involves a greater whole-body range of motion than jogging. That alone could explain the small difference.
2. Additionally, and I have no scientific explanation for this, I've seen intense aerobics make people's bodies stiff. I think it has something to do with the nervous system and the kind of muscle fiber associated with endurance. Tai chi generally has a softening effect on the body. This alone might solve the BP problem in someone whose blood pressure isn't too high.

[everything]

I guess the 24 is just a matter of logistics convenience for those researchers. wherever they are located (China somewhere), finding someone to lead the 24 must be easier. sure I'd rather do all those exercises people mentioned, but I don't want to walk a lot outside during my big pollen season, cannot do my relatively more intense/anaerobic futbol these days with a knee issue, so it's gotta be tai chi plus workouts in the house like KB swings and TGUs. cycling or swimming could be possible as well. hopefully if people like the study participants have a choice of brisk walking or tai chi, they can still choose both. but if not, hopefully there is still some good news for them.

[everything]

of course, there is also ALREADY an IMA exercise that is tai chi-like in meditation and relaxation response, deep breathing, qigong, AND has "brisk walking". LOL.

these researchers should look at that...

[Giles]

Yeah, but if you get your inexperienced test group briskly walking the circle, then before you know it your group members will be falling like ninepins due to dizziness...

[everything]

lol true