The effects of three kinds of qigong exercises on electrical impedance of human body

1. Introduction

In the Eastern medicine there is an established method of treatment in which they seize physical conditions, cure a disease and promote health by examining the conditions of the autonomic nervous system with human electrical impedance as an index. For this purpose there have been used an electrical needle on which an electric pulse of 1- 500 Hz is applied, moxibustion and shiatsu therapy. In recent-years they also try to apply Qigong to adjust the autonomic nervous system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosomatic balance adjusting effects of through human electrical impedance

2. Methods
1. Human electrical impedance was measured just before and after each Qigong exercise with the use of a neurometer (AM - D type) manufactured by Neuro Ika Kougyou. A constant direct voltage (12V) was applied on 24 body points of the subjects which represent the autonomic nerves to determine the impedance as the values of the electric current through the points.
2. Heart rate was measured before each of the exercises (in a sedentary posture) , during it (in a standing posture), and after it (in a sedentary posture) .
3. The subjects were two healthy males of middle age. One of them had middle class Qigong experience, and the other was inexperienced.
4. The following three kinds of Qigong exercises were chosen: Suwaishou (hereafter SWS), Tantoukou (hereafter TTK) and Hachidankin (hereafter HDK).

3. Results
While the experienced subject was performing SWS, TTK and HDK, his heart rate was respectfully greater by 15, 20 and 24 bpm than before the performance. The heart rate of the inexperienced subject was, however, only 5 bpm greater while he was performing SWS.

The values of the electric current which represents the human impedance of the experienced subject were distinctly greater just after the performance of HDK and TTK. These values of the experienced and the inexperienced subjects remained, however, unchanged or were slightly smaller after the performance of SWS. These values are greater for vital or young people, as long as they are in the range 40 - 80 micro amps. In our preceding study we found that a light bicycle exercise shifts the values to this range. Similar shifts were observed with the three kinds of exercises of the experienced subject. The degree of increases of the electric current by the performance of HDK was the greatest and that by the performance of TTK was the second. The body points at which the electric current changed much after the exercises were H4, H5 and H6 of both hands, and F2, F5 and F6 of both feet. As these kinds of characteristic body points may change from person to person, a further detail study with more subjects of various kinds is necessary, before these points are confirmed.