Tai Chi can lower blood pressure as well as taking medicine! American scholars study

Everyone says Tai Chi is good, but how much impact does regular practice have on blood pressure?

A recent meta-study conducted by American scholars concluded that Tai Chi can be used as a non-drug means of lowering blood pressure in patients with prehypertension.

They found that if you practice Tai Chi about 4 times a week, for about 60 minutes each time, for about 22 weeks, your blood pressure can be reduced by an average of 5 to 11 mmHg.

The researchers also compared trials published in Chinese and English. In the study published in English, practicing Tai Chi lowered systolic blood pressure by 10.4 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 4.0 mmHg; in the study published in Chinese, systolic blood pressure was lowered by 18.6 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure was lowered by 8.8 mmHg.

Regardless, the researchers believe that Tai Chi may be a good exercise therapy for lowering blood pressure, because even the most conservative blood pressure reduction reported in the English literature can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 40%.

A recent study of more than 6.4 million people published in Circulation showed that people with blood pressure of 130–139/80-89 mmHg had a 67% increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In other words, blood pressure at this level needs to be strictly managed.

How about trying Tai Chi?

This study by American scholars analyzed 31 studies involving 3,223 patients with prehypertension, with an average age of 56.6 years. The patients had an average systolic blood pressure of 136.9 mmHg and an average diastolic blood pressure of 83.4 mmHg.

source:

[1] Wu Y, Johnson BT, Chen S, et al. Tai Ji Quan as antihypertensive lifestyle therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis [published online ahead of print, 2020 May 1]. J Sport Health Sci.

[2] Lee H, Yano Y, Cho SMJ, et al. Cardiovascular Risk of Isolated Systolic or Diastolic Hypertension in Young Adults. Circulation, 2020, 141(22):1778-1786.

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