The effect of Imaginary Working Qigong on the psychological well-being of college students

Abstract

Introduction:College students are special populations that are particularly prone to have significantly high level of psychological distress than their community peers. Apparently, the best way to manage stress and mental state is through self-care. The characteristic of Qigong is self-directed and self-healing, which is a traditional Chinese mind-body exercise, which has the potential as a stress management intervention. Imaginary Working Qigong, as a kind of static Qigong, is more perception-oriented and can bring about benign sensations of mind and body so as to eliminate stress completely and induce physiological and mental relaxation. In this study protocol, we will systematically examine the feasibility and acceptability of Imaginary Working Qigong on psychological outcomes of the college students and deeply explore molecular biological mechanisms underlying the effects of mind adjustment induced Imaginary Working Qigong.Methods/designs:We will conduct a randomized, assessor and statistician-blinded, parallel-controlled trial exploring the beneficial mind adjustment of Imaginary Working Qigong in college students.A total of 80 eligible college students from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine will be recruited and randomly allocated into Imaginary Working Qigong training or unaltered lifestyle control group according 1:1 allocation ratio with allocation concealment. Imaginary Working Qigong training will last 8 weeks. The study period is 12 weeks including a 4-week supervised training, 4-week independence training, and a 4-week follow-up. Relevant psychological outcomes measurement will take place at baseline, 5 weeks (at the end of supervised training), 9 weeks (at the end of independence training), and 13 weeks (after the 4-week follow-up period) by blinded independent outcome assessors.Conclusion:This is the first randomized controlled trial protocol from the perspective of Qigong connotation to systematically evaluate the effects and relevant molecular mechanism of Imaginary Working Qigong for the mental health of a college student population. If our study demonstrates a significant intervention effect, this would provide preliminary higher-quality evidence and establish a further guidance for the application of Imaginary Working Qigong program among a college student population.Ethics and dissemination:The study protocol and consent forms have been approved by the medical and animal experiment ethic committee of BUCM (approval number: BJZYYDX-LL2014005).

The effects of physical exercise on anxiety symptoms of college students: A meta-analysis

“…They must not only face various problems in their studies, work, and feelings but also solve problems of interpersonal communication. Without guidance and support, college students could feel anxious and pressured ( Guo et al, 2018 ). A substantial proportion of anxious college students have sub-health problems due to unhealthy living habits, such as drinking, smoking, staying up late and eating irregularly.…”

The Evaluation of a Mind-Body Intervention (MBT-T) for Stress Reduction in Academic Settings: A Pilot Study

“…These studies describe the genomic and epigenetic pathways of stress, focusing on gene expression changes brought about by mind-body therapies. Despite a number of studies supporting the effectiveness of these interventions in lowering the level of stress, [ 13 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], improving well-being [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], and academic attainment in student populations [ 33 ], they may also present adverse effects and contraindications [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], especially for those individuals who are advised against mild to moderate physical exertion. In addition, mind-body therapies often require training that may be challenging to learn, and they are generally time-consuming to perform.…”

A mind–body intervention for stress reduction as an adjunct to an information session on stress management in university students

“…Other studies (Finkelstein-Fox, Park, & Riley, 2018;Gallego, Aguilar-Parra, Cangas, Rosado, & Langer, 2016;Meier & Welch, 2016;Running & Hildreth, 2017;Saoji, Mohanty, & Vinchurkar, 2017) Despite a number of studies supporting the effectiveness of these interventions in lowering the level of stress, (Gallego et al, 2016;Nanthakumar, 2018;Stillwell, Vermeesch, & Scott, 2017;Upchurch, Gill, Jiang, Prelip, & Slusser, 2018;Wang & Hagins, 2016), improving well-being (Birtwell, Williams, van Marwijk, Armitage, & Sheffield, 2019;Sarkissian, 2014;Soares & Chan, 2016;Zhang et al, 2018), and academic attainment in student populations (Bennett & Dorjee, 2016), they may also present adverse effects and contraindications. Notwithstanding the scarcity of empirical investigation on this subject, it is reported that mindfulness and meditation may induce temporary neurotic/anxiety symptoms (Dobkin, Irving, & Amar, 2012); mindful meditation, in particular, may induce psychosis, mania, or suicidal ideation especially in those with prior psychiatric morbidity (Wielgosz, Goldberg, Kral, Dunne, & Davidson, 2019); the autogenous training is contraindicated for those who suffer from a number of medical and/or mental conditions, for example, hypertension and psychosis (Brancaleone, 2010); yoga may not be recommended for those who suffer from arthritis (Dobkin et al, 2012); guided imagery may trigger post-traumatic stress symptom in patients with a history of previous emotional, sexual, or physical abuse (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2016); and qigong is contraindicated for those who have suffered from mental illness or severe consumptive disease, cerebrovascular disease, and severe cardiovascular, liver, kidney, gastrointestinal and hematological diseases, and musculoskeletal system diseases (Guo et al, 2018).…”