Tai chi exercises may boost seniors’ brain size
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Tai chi exercises may boost seniors' brain size.
Older individuals who are concerned about their ability to live independently may ask themselves if there is anything they can do to prevent the embarrassment of "senior moments," in which they forget simple things, such as people's names or the location of their car keys. An international study conducted by at team of neurologists from Florida and Shanghai identified one possible tool: tai chi exercises.
For their research, a team of scientists studied three groups of Chinese seniors over the course of eight months. Three times a week, one group practiced tai chi, while another participated in a forum of stimulating conversation and the last received no intervention.
By the end of the study period, both the tai chi and conversation groups developed increases in brain size and improved their scores on psychological tests for cognition and memory. No such results were seen in the group that had no intervention.
These findings suggest that tai chi may help delay the onset of dementia.
So if you're interested in learning tai chi for your cognitive health, go ahead! And if you have any misgivings about your summer vacation plans getting in the way of your regimen, forget about it – one of the advantages of these energy healing techniques is that they are portable and can travel with you anywhere!
