Abstract
Mind-body exercises such as Yoga or Qi Gong have demonstrated a wide range of health benefits and hold great promise for employment in clinical practice. However, the psychophysiological mechanism underlying these effects remains unclear. Theoretical frameworks highlight regulation as a characteristic and specific mechanism of mind-body exercise for which empirical evidence is scarce. To investigate the exact nature of this mechanism, we tracked acute changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and subjective state over a common form of mind-body exercise (Qi Gong). Heart rate variability (HRV) and subjective state were assessed in 42 Qi Gong practitioners from China and Germany during a standard moving Qi Gong exercise (Baduanjin). Relaxation in supine position prior and after the exercise served as a control condition to Qi Gong and to assess changes before and after the exercise. Following Qi Gong, all practitioners reported significantly increased subjective calmness and perceived body activation, attentional focus, and subjective vitality. On the physiological level, a significant decrease of parasympathetic modulation and increase in heart rate indicated a pattern of moderate general physiological activation during Qi Gong. A significant increase in overall RR-interval modulation and cardiac coherence during Qi Gong were indicative of a mechanism of active regulation. Examination of the RR-interval trajectories revealed a rhythmic pattern of ANS activation and deactivation in sync with activating and relaxing segments of the exercise. Significant changes in subjective state, not on the physiological level, before and after the exercise were observed. Significant associations between Qi-Gong-specific beliefs, age, cultural background, and experiential and physiological measures demonstrated the complexity of mind-body exercises as multicomponent interventions. Overall, this study highlights moderate general physiological activation, exercise-dependent rhythmic ANS modulation, and induction of a characteristic state of eutonic calmness as potential psychophysiological mechanisms underlying the health benefits of mind-body exercise.
Highlights
Mind-body exercise [1], mind-body therapies [2], or meditative movement [3, 4] describe a group of practices characterized by a combined focus on movement/posture, patterns of breathing, and mental activity
Qi Gong practitioners were recruited in mainland China (n 21) and in Germany (n 21). e Chinese group consisted of former and temporary students at the Shanghai University of Sport. e German sample consisted of amateur practitioners and coaches from various Qi Gong training locations in south Germany. e binational protocol was approved by the “Ethics Committee at the University Hospital and University of Tubingen” and all subjects gave written informed consent in their respective mother language in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. e inclusion criteria were: free of current medication, no cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and ability to perform the Qi Gong exercise Baduanjin. e basic characteristics of the overall sample and the two national subgroups are described in Table 1 and Additional file 1
E sensation of Qi, F(2.38,88.2) 36.40, p < 0.001, partial η2 0.50 changed significantly over the course of the experiment. It did not change over the first resting period (t0-t1; p > .10) but increased following the Qi Gong exercises (t0–t3, t1–t3; all p < 0.001). e sensation of Qi significantly decreased over the second resting period (t3-t4; all p < 0.008). e estimated means, standard errors, and confidence intervals of all subjective state measures are displayed in Table 2. e detailed patterns of change are contained in Table 3. e general patterns of change for subjective state were similar in the Chinese (Table 4) and the German subsamples (Table 5) with stronger effects in the German sample
Summary
Mind-body exercise [1], mind-body therapies [2], or meditative movement [3, 4] describe a group of practices characterized by a combined focus on movement/posture, patterns of breathing, and mental activity. Mind-body exercises, such as Yoga, Taijiquan, or Qi Gong, have become a global phenomenon in the pursuit of private and public health endeavors [5, 6]. One prominent example from the group of mind-body exercises is Qi Gong (Chinese: 气 Qi for vital energy; 工 Gong for work, cultivation). Like other mind-body practices, Qi Gong consists of a multitude of forms and styles, practiced for various purposes [7]. Baduanjin (“Eight pieces of brocade”) is a form of moving, health-cultivating Qi Gong, which will be used as a representative mind-body exercise in this article because a standard form of this traditional Qi Gong exercise has been developed and increasingly used in research [8]. Qi Gong refers to the moving, standard forms of healthcultivating Qi Gong
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