THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGIC EFFECTS OF TAI CHI CHUAN EXERCISE 819

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted to compare acute psychophysiological effects of Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) and treadmill exercise Cardiovascular hemodynamics, including heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (Q), total peripheral resistance (TPR), systolic blood pressure(SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), were measured 10 min before exercise, immediately post, and at 10 min intervals, up to 60 min of recovery in ten healthy females (age, 56.4 ± 11.84 yrs: TCC expenence, 11.3± 17.1 mo). State anxiety (S-Anxiety) was also measured 10 min before exercise, immediately post, and at 60 min of recovery. Participants performed both TCC (95.6 ± 20.1 bpm) and treadmill exercise (94.7 ± 12.9 bpm) in randomized fashion at a similar HR. A repeated measures factorial ANOVA and a multiple comparison procedure using SPSS contrasts with the difference method comparing ascending mean differences was calculated(Norusis, 1993). No significant (p >.05) interaction between exercise modality and time was found, and no significant (p >.05) main effect was found for exercise modality for any of the dependent variables. Significant (p<.05) main effects across time for HR, SV, Q, and TPR were found. HR levels at post, 20, 50, and 60 min; SV level at 10 min; and Q levels at all recovery time periods were significantly higher than the average for the previous time intervals. TPR levels at 40 and 60 min of recovery were significantly lower than the average for the previous time intervals. No significant (p >.05) interaction between exercise modality and time, and no significant (p >.05) main effect for exercise modality was found with respect to S-Anxiety. A significant (p <.05) main effect across time was found for S-Anxiety S-Anxiety immediately post and at 60 min of recovery was significantly lower than the average for the previous time intervals. In conclusion, there are no differences between TCC and treadmill exercise with respect to changes in hemodynamic and anxiety measures following an acute exercise bout.