Qigong and Tai-Chi for Mood Regulation
FOCUS The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry January 1, 2018 Albert Yeung, Jessie S. M. Chan, Joey C. Cheung et al. 166 citations
Qigong and Tai-Chi, traditional Chinese self-healing exercises combining coordinated posture, deep breathing, meditation, and mental focus, improve psychological well-being and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to clinical studies including randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses. These meditative movements, which share elements with mindfulness meditation, may work by anchoring attention to interoceptive sensations, enhancing nonreactivity to aversive thoughts. Slow movements and slowed breathing could alter the autonomic system, restoring homeostasis and shifting balance toward parasympathetic dominance, while also attenuating stress-related hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity. Effects on emotion regulation may involve changes in prefrontal regions, the limbic system, the striatum, or gene expression linked to inflammation and stress pathways.