TAI CHI

Lowers Blood Pressure

Tai chi is often described as “meditation in motion,” but it might well be called “medication in motion.” There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice … has value in treating or preventing many health problems.
~Harvard Medical Health Publication, 05/09

According to a study by John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and presented at a meeting sponsored by the American Heart Association Tai Chi lowered people’s blood pressure almost as well as moderate intensity aerobic exercise.

“You better believe we were surprised by those results,” one of the researchers, Dr. Deborah R. Young, M.D. said in a statement. “We were expecting to see significant group and minimal changes in the Tai chi group.

The adults, aged 60 years and older, assigning half to a program of brisk walking and low-impact aerobics and the other half to learning Tai chi. After 12 weeks, systolic blood pressure (the first number in a blood pressure reading) had fallen significantly in both groups, an average of 8.4 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in the aerobic exercise group and 7 mm Hg in the Tai Chi group. “It could be that in elderly, sedentary people, just getting up and doing some slow movement could be associated with beneficial reductions in high blood pressure,” Young theorizes.

High blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke and heart attack. Young cautions that the results of her research need to be confirmed by studying a larger group of people. “Until we know more, I encourage people to go out and do brisk walking on a regular basis,” she said.