Did you know that tai chi can keep you young? I don't mean
that it is a Fountain of Youth. However, tai chi can improve functional fitness
as we age. This is important because I don't know anyone that is not aging.
Doctors know that our coordination and reaction time decline
with age. Researchers decided to study the effect of tai chi on these aspects
of aging. They set up three groups. One group was young college students. One
group was aged tai chi practitioners. The final group was an aged control group
with no tai chi experience.
The researchers set up a system where a colored dot appeared
on a screen and they had the study subjects move their hand from a desk top
toward the screen and touch the dot. They measured the reaction time, hand
speed, and touch accuracy.
It wasn't too surprising that the young college students
were faster and more accurate than the control group. However, the aged tai chi
practitioners were equivalent to the younger group in touch accuracy.
Surprise, surprise. Tai chi is good for you.
The abstract is at
Volume 91, Issue 1, Pages 149-155, January 2010
© 2013 Eric Borreson
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