Effects of Tai Chi on the Executive Function and Physical Fitness of Female Methamphetamine Dependents: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Purpose: Exercise improves the health and mental status of drug dependents. The way by which Tai Chi (TC) as a special exercise treatment affects executive functions (EFs) of methamphetamine (MA) dependents is yet to be established. This study aimed to explore the effects of TC on the EFs and physical fitness of MA dependents.Methods: A total of 76 female MA dependents were randomly assigned to the exercise and control groups. The exercise group underwent three 60-min sessions of TC training per week for 12 weeks. The control group was trained with conventional exercises including the 9th Guang Bo Ti Cao and square dance. Physical fitness and EF assessments that evaluated inhibitory control (IC, go/no-go task), working memory (3-back task) and cognitive flexibility (switching task) were performed at baseline and at 12 weeks. A repeated-measures ANOVA was applied to analyze the differences of group and time.Results: The exercise group showed decreased response time (RT) with a significant main effect of time on the go/no-go task [F(1, 68) = 9.6, p < 0.05]. The interaction effect between time and group was significant on accuracy [F(1, 61) = 4.73, p < 0.05], and the main effect of time was significant on RT [F(1, 61) = 4.66, p < 0.05] in the 3-back task of the exercise group. Significant changes in BMI [F(1, 68) = 19.57, p < 0.05], vital capacity [F(1, 68) = 6.00, p < 0.05], and systolic blood pressure [F(1, 68) = 6.11, p < 0.05] were observed in the exercise group.Conclusion: These findings showed that 3 months of TC training can improve the IC and maintain the working memory and cognitive flexibility of MA dependents. Other data implied that TC may improve the physical fitness of MA dependents.Clinical Trial Registration:http://www.chictr.org.cn/, ChiCTR1900022091.

The Effects of Tai Chi on the Executive Functions and Physical Fitness in Middle-Aged Adults with Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The results of shortened incongruent post-test Stroop color-naming test response time in Tai Chi are in line with those of previous studies on the effectiveness of Tai Chi on elderly individuals [ 69 ], methamphetamine dependents [ 70 ], and individuals with mild cognitive impairment [ 71 ]. However, our study expanded to patients with depression, to examine whether the three-month Tai Chi intervention effectively improved the inhibitory control of adults with depression.…”

“…In line with previous studies on otherwise healthy adults [85], elderly individuals [86], and methamphetamine-dependent women [70], this study demonstrated that the Tai Chi intervention comprehensively improved the physical fitness of adults with depression. us, Tai Chi was found to be conducive to improving an individual's cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, muscle endurance, power, and flexibility.…”

“…Alternatively, the selective promoting effects of Tai Chi on executive function may be limited to specific executive functions (e.g., inhibitory control and working memory) that do not include cognitive flexibility. Even though this may be associated with the effects of the type of cognitive tasks as a mediator between physical activity and executive function [ 83 ], a recent study found that a 40-minute session Tai Chi intervention had no cognitive flexibility-promoting effects on methamphetamine dependents [ 70 ]. The authors of that study suggested that this finding could be due to the short length of the course (12 weeks in total).…”

Comparison of the acute effects of Tai chi versus high-intensity interval training on inhibitory control in individuals with substance use disorder

“…To test whether the sample size of ANOVA is reasonable, G*power 3.1 (Franz faul, Universitat Kiel, Germany) was used to conduct the post hoc statistical power analysis. Referring to the parameter settings in previous study ( Menglu et al, 2021 ), the ANOVA test was selected, the effect size was set as 0.23, the significance level as 0.05, the sample size as 47, the number of groups as 2, and the number of repeated measurements as 6, the calculated power value was 0.99, exceeding the basic level by 0.80. Therefore, the sample size of this study complied with the requirements.…”

Training and transfer effects of working memory updating training in male abstinent long-term methamphetamine users

“…Different types of intervention, aimed at improving cognitive functioning of methamphetamine users, have recently been examined. These include electrical brain stimulation (e.g., Alizadehgoradel et al, 2020 ), various types of physical exercise ( Liu et al, 2021 , Menglu et al, 2021 , Qi et al, 2021 ), and cognitive trainings ( Bickel et al, 2011 , Brooks et al, 2016 ). The first two types of intervention are promising, but require more systematic research on training parameters and possible modulators of training effects in terms of, for example, duration of drug use and abstinence.…”