Adding explicit mindfulness instruction to standard Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) training improves beginners' mental and physical health more than TCC alone. In a randomized trial with 119 healthy college students new to TCC, those who received a 10-week Mindfulness-enhanced Tai Chi Chuan (MTCC) program showed significantly greater gains in mindfulness, lower anxiety and stress, and better health- and skill-related physical fitness compared with a standard TCC group. No difference in depression was found between the two groups. The findings suggest that MTCC offers additional mental health benefits while also improving physical fitness, making it a useful intervention for beginners.
Mindfulness and self-regulation are inversely linked to impulsive behavior in athletes, while social evaluation anxiety is positively linked. Self-regulation and social evaluation anxiety mediate the relationship between mindfulness and impulsive behavior. A survey of 403 athletes from Chinese youth training centers, universities, sports academies, and clubs used structural equation modeling to confirm these associations. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation in competitive settings may reduce social evaluation anxiety and improve self-regulation, thereby decreasing impulsive behavior and supporting psychological health.
Injecting (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine ((2R,6R)-HNK) into the brain's lateral ventricle of rats with PTSD-like behaviors most effectively reduces anxiety and fear when given during the reconsolidation phase of fear memory—the period after a memory is recalled and before it is stored again. The drug restored levels of three proteins in the hippocampus (GluA1, VGF, and BDNF) that were lowered by stress and fear conditioning. No significant improvements occurred when the drug was given during the acquisition or extinction phases. The findings suggest that (2R,6R)-HNK works through the VGF/BDNF/GluA1 signaling pathway in the hippocampus to alleviate PTSD-like symptoms specifically during memory reconsolidation.