Four Health Qigong Exercise On The Experimental Study Of The Fitness Effects Of The Elderly

The concept of "Health Goes First" has become the mainstream idea of people in the 21^st century. The Chinese traditional culture of preserving health is sure to play a more and more important role in the promotion of the people' s health together with the modern views concerning health. With a long history and rich content, the fitness Qigong is an important part of the Chinese traditional culture of preserving health. Four kinds of fitness Qigong such as Wuqinxi, Yijinjing, Liuzijue, Baduanjin were born at the beginning of this century. The title of this paper is quoted from a book entitled Guidance to the Subject of Scientific Research on the Fitness Qigong in Year 2005 compiled by fitness Qigong administration center of National General Administration of Sport.Research purpose:This paper probes the influence of the four types of fitness Qigong on the health of middle-aged and elder people through not only the longitudinal study of the four groups who exercise the four types of Qigong respectively, but the comparative study of the efficacy between each group, in order to provide suitable type of fitness Qigong for the middle-aged and elder people considering the possible difference between the efficacy of the four types.Research content:1. A test has been made in the following indexes such as the build, constitution, physiology of the body and the blood fat etc. before and after the testees' three-month exercise of four types of fitness Qigong.2. The paper makes an analysis of the influence of the exercise of Qigong on the psychology of the testees.3. Based on the longitudinal study of the exercise of the four types of Qigong, this paper makes a parallel comparison between the possible different efficacy of the four types.Research objects and methods: Select 120 middle-aged and elder local citizens of Shijiazhuang city with ages ranging from 50 to 70 years old, among whom, 104 people are female and 16 are male. They are randomly divided into four groups: Wuqinxi, Yijinjing, Liuzijue and Baduanjin with 30 people in each group. The testees are basically healthy without distinct difference in constitution. All the participants are voluntary in the exercise and the test of Qigong. They exercise their respective Qigong for 3 months collectively with 5 times per week, 3 times every morning which takes about an hour. The indexes will be tested once before the exercise and then tested again after three months. The psychological index is to be recorded after the finish of the whole exercise.Experiment result:1. In build: No distinct difference is shown in BMI within each group (p > 0. 05). There is a tendency (not distinct) towards smaller WHR for the group of Wuqinxi, Yijinjing and Baduanjin (p>0. 05), but no remarkable change for the group of Liuzijue. There are distinct changes in the thickness of the skin pleat in the shoulders and the upper arms (p < 0. 05) No distinct difference exists among all groups (p< 0.05)2. In constitution: A distinct difference exists not only in the sit-and-reach test(p< 0. 01), in the testees' balance of standing with one single foot on the ground for the group of Yijinjing(p< 0. 05), but in grip test for the four groups as well. There is no striking difference in the time-length of response, but there is a good tendency in the testees. There is no marked difference among the four groups.3. Physiology: There is improvement in the cardiopulmonary function for all groups, but a distinct difference among the groups of Liuzijue, Yijinjing and Baduanjin (p< 0. 05). There is no distinct change in heart rate in motion for all groups and no distinct difference among all groups (p>0.05).4. Four indexes of the blood fat: Distinct changes have been shown both in TC of blood serum for the groups of Wuqinxi and Baduanjin (p< 0.05), and in HDL of blood serum for groups of Wuqinxi, Liuzijue and Baduanjin (p<0. 01) while no distinct changes for other groups. There is a tendency of decreasing in LDL and TG of blood serum for all groups, but no distinct changes (p >0. 05). There is no distinct difference among the four groups(p > 0.05).5. There is a distinct change in the following groups: the group of Yijinjing (p< 0. 05) in all the three respects of depression, anxiety and self test of health in the elder, the groups of Wuqinxi and Liuzijue (p < 0. 05) in the respects of anxiety and self test of health, the group of Baduanjin (p < 0.05) in the aspect of self test of health. There are positive influences for all other groups, but there are no distinct differences in psychology among the four groups.Conclusion:1. A three-month exercise of Qigong has positive influence on the following indexes of the build, constitution, physiology of the body and the blood fat etc. of the middle-aged and elder people.2. A three-month exercise of the four types of Qigong has positive influence on the psychology of the testees.3. The four types of fitness Qigong have demonstrated distinct efficacy which have exerted a good result on the health of the middle-aged and elder people in different ways. They play a relatively great role on different parts of the body respectively, for example, Wuqinxi on the build, Yijinjing on constitution, Liuzijue on physiology, and Wuqinxi and Baduanjin on the four indexes of the blood fat.4. There is no difference between the efficacy of the four types of fitness Qigong.