Tai Chi Packs a Health-Boosting Punch
Those (mostly older) people in the park are on to something good, with benefits from childhood through adulthood
Older people. That’s what I think of when I hear tai chi. That’s not me, or so I thought. I see myself with the group lining up for a community 5k race in the park, not the slow-moving gathering of gray-haired individuals in the shade.
Nothing has budged my stubborn and slightly elevated blood pressure despite all efforts. It turns out that tai chi may be a more leisurely and more effective form of exercise than all the heart-pounding swimming and running I’ve been doing to stave off a high blood pressure diagnosis.
Systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) was significantly reduced in research participants exercising with tai chi compared to those who completed aerobic exercise, according to a robust study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Often recommended when age-related changes make other forms of exercise difficult, tai chi’s slow pace and strange waving motions don’t make it the sexiest exercise choice. But the more I researched, the more I realized those people in the park were on to something with serious health benefits across the lifespan. Off…
