Potential benefits of Qi Gong meditation in quantifiable physiology: A five-year longitudinal observation

Q3 Medicine

Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences Pub Date : 2022-07-01 DOI:10.1016/j.jtcms.2022.06.005

Ashley Xia

{"title":"Potential benefits of Qi Gong meditation in quantifiable physiology: A five-year longitudinal observation","authors":"Ashley Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.jtcms.2022.06.005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>Qi Gong is a mind-and-body intervention to improve health and relieve disease conditions, which has been practiced for thousands of years. Lack of quantitative measures to monitor the quality and progress of Qi Gong practice has hindered the high-quality study to evaluate its health benefits.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>To develop such quantitative measures, vital sign changes in Qi Gong meditation practice of a single individual were monitored for 5 years by wearable devices.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>This retrospective and exploratory analysis revealed significant changes in blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, respiration rate, and perfusion index in response to Qi Gong practice and physiological adaptation to its long-term training. Among the physiological changes in vital signs, a physiological state with a significant 2-fold increase in pulse-respiration rate ratio was detected during Qi Gong meditation while the ratios were maintained at 4 under resting, sleeping, and mild cycling conditions.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>This is an inaugural report of a five-year longitudinal observation of this kind. Once validated in a well-designed cohort study, these non-invasive and easily obtained vital signs may be used as biomarkers to assess the adherence to breathing control during Qi Gong practice and can be applied to quantify the quality of Qi Gong practice in clinical trials with Qi Gong intervention.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":36624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences","volume":"9 3","pages":"Pages 340-348"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095754822000539/pdfft?md5=415ed173722e35de52e2f181c8fe600c&pid=1-s2.0-S2095754822000539-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095754822000539","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective

Qi Gong is a mind-and-body intervention to improve health and relieve disease conditions, which has been practiced for thousands of years. Lack of quantitative measures to monitor the quality and progress of Qi Gong practice has hindered the high-quality study to evaluate its health benefits.

Methods

To develop such quantitative measures, vital sign changes in Qi Gong meditation practice of a single individual were monitored for 5 years by wearable devices.

Results

This retrospective and exploratory analysis revealed significant changes in blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, respiration rate, and perfusion index in response to Qi Gong practice and physiological adaptation to its long-term training. Among the physiological changes in vital signs, a physiological state with a significant 2-fold increase in pulse-respiration rate ratio was detected during Qi Gong meditation while the ratios were maintained at 4 under resting, sleeping, and mild cycling conditions.

Conclusion

This is an inaugural report of a five-year longitudinal observation of this kind. Once validated in a well-designed cohort study, these non-invasive and easily obtained vital signs may be used as biomarkers to assess the adherence to breathing control during Qi Gong practice and can be applied to quantify the quality of Qi Gong practice in clinical trials with Qi Gong intervention.

查看原文本刊更多论文

气功冥想在可量化生理学中的潜在益处：一项为期五年的纵向观察

气功是一种改善健康、缓解疾病的身心干预方法，已有数千年的历史。缺乏定量的措施来监测气功实践的质量和进展，阻碍了评估其健康益处的高质量研究。方法采用可穿戴设备对单个个体在气功禅修过程中的生命体征变化进行5年的监测。结果回顾性和探索性分析揭示了气功练习和长期训练的生理适应对血氧饱和度、脉搏率、呼吸率和灌注指数的显著影响。在生命体征的生理变化中，在气功冥想过程中检测到脉搏呼吸率比显著增加2倍的生理状态，而在休息、睡眠和轻度循环条件下，脉搏呼吸率比率保持在4。结论这是此类五年纵向观察的首次报告。一旦在精心设计的队列研究中得到验证，这些非侵入性且易于获得的生命体征就可以用作生物标志物来评估气功练习期间对呼吸控制的依从性，并可用于量化气功干预临床试验中气功练习的质量。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences Medicine-Complementary and Alternative Medicine

CiteScore

1.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

36 weeks

期刊介绍： Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Peer review under the responsibility of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences is an international, peer-reviewed publication featuring advanced scientific research in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The journal is sponsored by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Tsinghua University Press, and supervised by the Ministry of Education of China. The goal of the journal is to serve as an authoritative platform to present state-of-the-art research results. The journal is published quarterly. We welcome submissions of original papers on experimental and clinical studies on TCM, herbs and acupuncture that apply modern scientific research methods. The journal also publishes case reports, reviews, and articles on TCM theory and policy.