Effects of qigong and Taijiquan on reversal of aging process and some psychological functions

The existence of some negative emotions in elderly was observed because of changed physiological. psychological conditions and social status. Sleeping disorders to some extent also existed in elderly. Coronary heart disease(CHD) is the common disease in elderly people. The incidence of CHD is associated with type A behavior pattern. Poor stability of action and slow down in action and processing information occurred frequently in old people. In order to know whether the qigong or Taijiquan is useful to improve psychological changes mentioned above. 122 subjects who have practiced qigong and 55 subjects who have practiced Taijiquan are than two years with average age of 65 were used as experimental groups. Ninety subjects matched with age and education level who never practiced qigong or Taijiquan were used as control group.

The results shoved that less depressed and less anxious and better quality of sleeping were observed in qigong and Taijiquan group. The results also suggested that qigong was useful to the improvement of neuroticism and Taijiquan was useful to the improvement of psychoticism of EPQ. Type A behavior pattern could be changed by practicing qigong and at least 5 years' practice is necessary for this to change. Practicing Taijiquan could be more effective than qigong for the improvement of stability of action, attention and the speed of processing information.