Impact of Short- and Long-term Tai Chi Mind-Body Exercise Training on Cognitive Function in Healthy Adults: Results from a Hybrid Observational Study and Randomized Trial

Abstract

Background:Cognitive decline amongst older adults is a significant public health concern. There is growing interest in behavioral interventions, including exercise, for improving cognition. Studies to date suggest tai chi (TC) may be a safe and potentially effective exercise for preserving cognitive function with aging; however, its short-term and potential long-term impact on physically active, healthy adults is unclear.Objective:To compare differences in cognitive function among long-term TC expert practitioners and age-matched and gender-matched TC-naïve adults and to determine the effects of short-term TC training on measures of cognitive function in healthy, nonsedentary adults.Design:A hybrid design including an observational comparison and a 2-arm randomized clinical trial (RCT)Participants:Healthy, nonsedentary, TC-naive adults (50 y-79 y) and age-matched and gender-matched long-term TC expertsMethods:A cross-sectional comparison of cognitive function in healthy TC-naïve (n=60) and TC expert (24.5 y ÷ 12 y experience; n=27) adults: TC-naïve adults then completed a 6-month, 2-arm, wait-list randomized clinical trial of TC training. Six measures of cognitive function were assessed for both cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons.Results:TC experts exhibited trends towards better scores on all cognitive measures, significantly so for category fluency (P=.01), as well as a composite z score summarizing all 6 cognitive assessments (P=.03). In contrast, random assignment to 6 months of TC training in TC-naïve adults did not significantly improve any measures of cognitive function.Conclusions:In healthy nonsedentary adults, long-term TC training may help preserve cognitive function; however, the effect of short-term TC training in healthy adults remains unclear.Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01340365

Effects of Mind‐Body Exercises on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Meta‐Analysis

“…A total of 32 randomized clinical trials with 3624 participants were included in the analysis. The age of the included participants ranged from 50 to 85 years.…”

“…The outcome assessments were blinded in 20 studies (62.5%) . Thirty studies (93.75%) had a low risk of attrition bias because most studies reported the dropout rate or represented detailed explanations. Overall, 21 studies (65.6%) 16–22,24,25,27–29,33–35,37–40 were recognized as having a low risk of methodological quality, and the remaining studies were deemed to have a low methodological quality.…”

“…The treatments used for the intervention groups included tai chi, [14][15][16][17]25,26,28,29,31,33,[35][36][37][38][39][40]42,43 yoga, 13,[21][22][23][24]32,34,41 and dance. 12,[18][19][20]27,30 Different practices of mind-body exercises included varied schools that were12/24-form Yang-style tai chi, ballroom dance, Iyengar or Kundalini yoga, and so on (the detailed schools are shown in Supplementary Table S1).…”

“…Among the 32 RCTs, 24 studies (75%) 13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]24,25,[27][28][29][30][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]42,43 reported random sequence generation using appropriate methods such as a random number table, computer generation, or block or stratified randomization, and 15 studies (46.9%) 16,[19][20][21][22]24,25,[27][28][29]35,37,40,42,43 reported the use of allocation concealment methods. Because mindbody exercise is a nonpharmacologic therapy, nearly all of the studies failed to blind the participants and personnel.…”

Effects of multiple training modalities in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a pilot study

“…Previous studies have evidenced the positive effects of Tai Chi9–13,42–45 and calligraphy therapy17,19,21,22,24 on the cognitive and physical functions of elderly with and without cognitive impairment. However, the measures of effect were limited 44.…”