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15.08.2020

Practicing Tai-Chi or Qigong gives you more immune cells

Ancient body-mind techniques such as Tai-Chi and Qigong have a positive effect on the immune system. According to Australian cancer researchers, practicing Tai-Chi or Qigong for a period of 1-6 months increases the number of immune cells that kill cancer cells and germs.

Study
The researchers traced 19 previously published randomized placebo-controlled trial, involving a total of 1,686 subjects.

Results
After the Australians had re-analyzed the joint results of the studies, they saw that practicing Tai-Chi or Qigong increased the number of immune cells in the blood of the subjects.

When the researchers looked specifically at different types of immune cells, they found a number of positive trends, but hardly any positive significant trends. An exception was the total number of adaptive immune cells. This number did increase significantly due to Qigong and Tai-Chi.

Well - a bit.

The adaptive immune system is the learning part of the immune system. This is the part of the immune system that recognizes previous infections and after reinfection switches off invading germs immediately. The adaptive immune system is also the part of the immune system that responds to vaccines.

The Australians plead for more research. Researchers often do that - they actually always do - but in this case they have an extra reason. The Australians found evidence that the studies used may not properly reflect the true impact of body-mind techniques. There may be some scientific bias.

Conclusion
"Despite several limitations, the current review of s indicates that practising Tai Chi or Qigong can have a positive impact on immune system functioning [...]", summarize the researchers.

"Given the vital role of the immune system, [...] in the current viral pandemic, preventative public health strategies to improve immune functioning in the general public, and those with medical conditions, are needed."

"However, while the promotion of Tai Chi or Qigong to the general public and healthcare professionals as a preventative health intervention for strengthening the immune system is recommended, further robust studies to develop clinical practice guidelines for using Tai Chi or Qigong with vulnerable populations is warranted."

Source:
Medicines (Basel). 2020 Jun 30;7(7):39.

More:
15 minutes of meditation has about the same psychological effects as a day off 08.06.2019
Yoga slows down all types of aging 30.06.2018
Tai Chi as lifestyle: less cortisol, more DHEA 25.12.2017

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