Abstract
Although research has provided abundant evidence for Taichi-induced improvements in psychological and physiological well-being, little is known about possible links to brain structure of Taichi practice. Using high-resolution MRI of 22 Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) practitioners and 18 controls matched for age, sex and education, we set out to examine the underlying anatomical correlates of long-term Taichi practice at two different levels of regional specificity. For this purpose, parcel-wise and vertex-wise analyses were employed to quantify the difference between TCC practitioners and the controls based on cortical surface reconstruction. We also adopted the Attention Network Test (ANT) to explore the effect of TCC on executive control. TCC practitioners, compared with controls, showed significantly thicker cortex in precentral gyrus, insula sulcus and middle frontal sulcus in the right hemisphere and superior temporal gyrus and medial occipito-temporal sulcus and lingual sulcus in the left hemisphere. Moreover, we found that thicker cortex in left medial occipito-temporal sulcus and lingual sulcus was associated with greater intensity of TCC practice. These findings indicate that long-term TCC practice could induce regional structural change and also suggest TCC might share similar patterns of neural correlates with meditation and aerobic exercise.
Highlights
Inactivity is a growing public health concern
The results indicated that the reaction time of Attention Network Test (ANT) was positively correlated with cortical thickness of left superior temporal gyrus (r = 0.929, p = 0.007) in Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) group, whereas this relationship was not detectable in control group
The thickness of medial occipito-temporal sulcus and lingual sulcus was detected to have a trend toward positive correlation with the intensity of TCC practice, providing evidence that long-term TCC practitioners have structural alterations in grey matter, which is possibly related to regular exercise
Summary
About 74% of adults in the United States do not meet the recommended guideline of at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week [1]. In developing countries such as China, the rate of sedentary lifestyle seems higher, at 82.1% Chinese adults did not participate in regular physical exercise [2]. This issue is undoubtedly associated with a number of physical (for example, cardiovascular disease, colon and breast cancer, and obesity) and mental (for example, depression and anxiety) disorders [3]. It is important to select the appropriate exercise type to engage in it when individuals determined to start exercise program
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