Physiological measurements during qigong training

We have been periodically making the physiological measurements of qigong beginners in a qigong school to study their value changes during qigong training. In this paper, we describe analyses of ECGs (electrocardiograms), respiration patterns and PPGs (photoplethysmograms) of one subject who started training 11 months ago. In the experiment, we made the subject do a foot massage, standing posture qigong and Soubikou (a dynamic qigong), each with the eyes opened and closed, do mental arithmetic with the eyes closed, and answer a psychology test and a questionnaire. Analyses data showed differences when the eyes were opened and closed: 1) Both foot massage with the eyes closed and standing posture qigong with the eyes closed showed lower activity indexes of the sympathetic nervous system than when the eyes were opened; 2) Both foot massage with the eyes closed and standing posture qigong with the eyes closed showed many more long respiration periods than when the eyes were opened; 3) Both foot massage with the eyes closed and Soubikou with the eyes closed showed smaller respiration amplitudes than when the eyes were opened. The questionnaire answers suggested that closing the eyes was a relaxing factor.