Chinese tai chi helps lower blood pressure, study finds

Tai chi, a traditional, slow-moving form of Chinese martial art, helps better than aerobic exercises in case of hypertension. This is evidenced by a research published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Previous research has shown that aerobic exercise—which increases breathing rate and heart rate—and tai chi can prevent hypertension in people with prehypertension.

In a new study, researchers decided to compare two approaches. A total of 349 volunteers with prehypertension participated in the experiment. During a year, half of them practiced tai-chi four times a week, the other half—aerobics. The training lasted one hour.

It was found that volunteers in the tai chi group had an average blood pressure drop of 7.01 mm Hg, compared with 4.61 mmHg for volunteers in the aerobic exercise group. They were less likely to develop hypertension.

The results suggest that the Chinese martial art of tai chi—a variant of wushu—can protect better against life-threatening cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks and strokes.

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