Effects of exercise or tai chi on Internet addiction in college students and the potential role of gut microbiota: A randomized controlled trial
Author: Xueqing Zhang1, Huayu Yang1, Kexin Zhang1, Jianghui Zhang1, Xiaoyan Lu1, Haiyun Guo1, Guojing Yuan1, Zhihui Zhu1, Jun Du1, Haiyan Shi1, Guifang Jin1, Jiahu Hao2, Ying Sun2, Puyu Su2, Zhihua Zhang3
Affiliation:
1 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
2 Department of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China. Electronic address: zhangzh@ahmu.edu.cn.
Conference/Journal: J Affect Disord
Date published: 2023 Feb 6
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.002. , Word Count: 264
Objective:
This study aimed to explore the effect of exercise or tai chi on Internet addiction disorder (IAD) among college students and clarified the abundance and population changes of gut microbiota in different groups. Thus explore the potential role of gut microbiota between exercise and IAD.
Methods:
A total of 93 subjects diagnosed with mild IAD were randomly assigned to the exercise group, the tai chi group, and the control group. The intervention groups received exercise or tai chi for 8 weeks and the control group was evaluated without any intervention. Fecal samples were collected after the intervention.
Results:
1) Analysis found a significant intervention effect with the exercise group showing an average decrease of 8.84 points on the Internet addiction test (IAT) compared with the control group (95%CI -15.41 to-2-27, P = 0.004). But no difference between the control and tai chi groups. 2) Both exercise (P = 0.018) and tai chi (P = 0.026) could significantly relieve fatigue symptoms. 3) The relative abundance of the Betaproteobacteria, Porphyromonadaceae, Sutterellaceae, and Alistipes were significantly decreased in the exercise group compared with the control group, and the relative abundance of Escherichia was significantly increased in the exercise group. 4) The relative abundance of Betaproteobacteria, Sutterellaceae, and Escherichia had significant differences between the improved group and the no-improved group.
Conclusion:
Exercise intervention has a considerable effect on treating IAD. Exercise and tai chi might have effectiveness in relieving the symptoms of fatigue. Exercise intervention regulates the gut microflora and changes the abundance of microflora to improve IAD.
Clinical trial registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT05529368.
Keywords: Exercise; Fatigue; Gut microflora; Internet addiction disorder; Tai chi.
PMID: 36754096 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.002
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