Qigong for mental health and sleep quality in postmenopausal women: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Menopause is one of the stages in a woman’s life that affects her psychological health, the most frequent being anxiety and depression. In addition, another problem related to this stage is the lack of sleep that causes a decrease in the quality of sleep. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to analyze the effectiveness of a Qigong exercise program on sleep quality, anxiety, and depression in Spanish postmenopausal women. Methods: A total of 125 women were randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) (n = 63) that carried out a Qigong exercise program for 12 weeks, or a control group (CG) (n = 62), which did not perform any type of intervention. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results: Women who underwent an intervention program experienced significant improvements for all measured variables, except for the use of sleeping medication and daytime dysfunctions that did not show any significant effect with respect to the group and group × time interaction. Conclusions: After an intervention based on a BaDuanJin Qigong exercise program for 12 weeks, improvements were observed in sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, the total score of the PSQI, anxiety and depression in postmenopausal Spanish women.

Traditional Chinese exercises on depression: A network meta-analysis

“…According to the search strategy, 3713 articles were initially obtained, and 25 studies [20-44] were finally included after excluding repetitive articles, abstracts, and full texts. There were 8 English articles, whereas the others were Chinese articles with a total of 1605 subjects.…”

“…Four of the 25 studies [33,35,36,40] reported PSQI scores including routine treatment combined with Baduanjin, Tai Chi, and Wuqinxi. However, the fourth data point intersected with the invalid line and was excluded.…”

“…Eleven studies [21,24,28,30,31,33,34,39,40,43,44] were evaluated as low risk by random number table grouping, 3 studies [22,25,32] were evaluated as high risk by grouping for the order of treatment, and 11 studies [20,23,26,27,29,[35][36][37][38]41,42] only mentioned "random" evaluation as uncertainty. None of the studies mentioned the use of allocation concealment, which was considered uncertain.…”

Sleep disorders as a prospective intervention target to prevent drug relapse

“…In stage 2, we proved that Health Qigong intervention targeting sleep disorders could successfully enhance sleep quality, raise quality of life, as well as reduce the likelihood of relapse, thereby confirming hypothesis 3. Health Qigong for 12 weeks has been consistently confirmed to improve various aspects of sleep, including latency to sleep onset, total sleep time, efficiency of sleep, and daytime dysfunction, among others ( 51 , 52 ). Health Qigong, a mind-body exercise that emphasizes meditation and deep breathing, improves respiratory function and regulates all of the body's organs through relaxation ( 25 ).…”

Effects of traditional Chinese exercise on sleep quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Types of Health Qigong were Liuzijue, [41] Chaoyi Fanhuan Qigong, [29,43] Goulin New Qigong, [26] Tai chi, [24,30,[32][33][34]39,44,45] Chan-Chuang Qigong, [42] and Baduanjin. [23,25,31,[35][36][37][38] Among the 20 studies, 10 studies were conducted in China, 5 in the United States, 1 in Germany, 1 in Italy, 1 in Spain, 1 in Australia, and 1 in Canada. The disease conditions were breast cancer, pausimenia, stroke, chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness, colorectal cancer, episodic migraine, fibromyalgia, insomnia, knee osteoarthritis, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.…”