Want China Times, CNA 2014-06-08
Taiwanese researchers have identified one possible reason that practitioners of the martial art tai chi tout its health benefits: shadow boxing apparently reinvigorates stem cells.
Tai chi practitioners in Yunyang, Chongqing. (File photo/Xinhua) |
Taiwanese researchers have identified one possible reason that practitioners of the martial art tai chi tout its health benefits: shadow boxing apparently reinvigorates stem cells.
In a study
published in the international medical journal Cell Transplantation, a research
team found that tai chi can increase the number of stem cells in practitioners.
Lin
Hsin-jung, a neural surgeon and head of China Medical University Beigang
Hospital in southern Taiwan, said Saturday that his team's research has been
selected as the cover story for the latest issue of the journal.
He noted
that the public has long considered Tai Chi to be good for the body, and
practitioners say it helps them live a longer, healthier life.
Lin and a
team of researchers put the theory to the test with three years of research.
In the
study, 60 subjects were divided into three groups, two of which undertook tai
chi and speed walking, respectively, and a control group that did no exercise
at all.
The
researchers concluded that the tai chi practitioners saw their individual stem
cell counts increase by increments of three to five times.
Regular tai
chi exercises helped the subjects with heart function, reinvigorated neural
cells in the brain, balanced excitement and inhibition controls, and helped
with mental trauma and nerve exhaustion, Lin said.
The
research is titled "Tai Chi Intervention Increases Progenitor CD34+Cells
in Young Adults."
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