Tai Chi: Low-To-Moderate Intensity Exercise Analysis

Throughout our lives, as individuals, we spend a lot of time taking care of us though. We spend most of my time either focusing on school work, advancing ourselves in our careers and worrying about our family. But as we go through our lives, we also have the focus on beneficial health, and that includes worrying about a life-threatening condition such as heart disease, stroke, blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. Of course, a doctor would prescribe various medications to help prolong Our Lives and decrease chances of death in dealing with some of these conditions wood would also tell individuals about changing their lifestyles choices from everything they eat to the kind of exercises they should do. According to the center of Disease Control

and prevention in 2008, they predicted that the number of global coronary artery disease deaths would rise over the next two decades and to reduce the risk factors for coronary artery disease, CAD, many would need to participate and effective intervention. Health professionals believe that promotion of low-to-moderate intensity exercises can promote cardiovascular function and quality of life.

A form of low-to-moderate exercise that was suggested for cardiovascular risk management programs includes Tai Chi for those with CAD. According to the Harvard Medical School Gide to Tai Chi by Wayne & Fuerst (2013), Tai Chi is a mind-body exercise rooted in various Asian tradition including martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, and philosophy. Tai Chi training integrates slow, deliberate movement with breathing and cognitive skills. It aims to strengthen, relax, and combine the physical body and mind, and enhances the natural flow of qi and improves health, personal development, and self-defense. Tai Chi is made up of multiple components including many physical, cognitive, and psychosocial ingredients. According to their studies over the years, it is suggested that participating in Tai chi could be a safe option for patients with a CAD. There is a total of 8 active ingredients of Tai Chi: awareness, intention, structural integration, active relaxation, strengthening and flexibility, natural breathing, social support, and embodied

spirituality. With this information, it's important to see how the implication of Tai Chi into some routine for those with cardiovascular disease can have any effect on reducing the risk factors for them and to see if there is any significant change in their results.
In Yeh, Chan, Wayne, & Conboy (2016) they wanted to understand patient experiences, perceived changes, and health benefits that occur when Tai Chi Mind-Body exercise programs were introduced compared to heart failure education. They also wanted to see if they can generate new hypotheses to know the benefits Tai Chi and other mediators have health-related quality. For their research, they recruited a hundred patients from ambulatory clinics for medical centers in and around Boston. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either a 12-week Tai Chi exercise program or a heart health education program. In addition to being part of the program participants something to earn their usual care of pharmacological therapy, and general exercise advice for the American College of Cardiology guidelines. The Tai Chi exercise program pieces hell twice a week for 12 weeks. The program included warm-up exercises and was followed by five simplified Tai Chi movements that were taught by certified and experienced instructors. The warm-ups targeted areas such as the arm, neck, legs and focused on traditional breathing methods. A 35-minute videotape was provided to participants that outline the exercises, and it was encouraged for patients to practice the exercises at home at least three times per week. Self-important we used to monitor class attendance and compliance to at home exercises. Those in the control group attended a session twice a week that was taught by a nurse practitioner and was followed by an 11-heart failure module. In the end, one change participants noticed was the sense of stress management. They reported that they felt a sense of relaxation and that the Tai chi exercises were helpful in reducing stress. They found in their results that those who received the Tai chi exercises showed a better quality of life and improvement in health compared to those in the control group. They concluded that an emphasis on patient-centered outcomes and living well are essential indicators of patient success in managing a cardiac event. For further research, they want to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, a locus of control, empowerment, and quality of life four atlas populations with chronic heart conditions.
In Park, et al.

(2010), their research and study were determined the effects of a cardiovascular risk management program with tai chi on cardiovascular risk, health behavior and quality of life in individuals with coronary artery disease. For This research, a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test with the nonequivalent control group was used. The program was provided for six months it consisted of Tai Chi exercises, nutritional education, stress management classes. The groups are made up of patient preference in mind with those being in a group with education and Tai Chi exercises and the other with only Tai Chi exercises. A sample size of 117 adults with coronary artery disease was recruited, and those that participated were pick based on the criteria that they had no cardiac surgery plan during the six-month and understood the questionnaire and educational class that was given. The study had 117 participate, but 16 had dropped from the first two groups and another 16 from the control group after the 6-month follow up which resulted and unequal gender distribution at post-test. Another limitation that the study had was that the program was delivered on Saturday morning and female participants had other obligations such as being home at certain times while male participants for more inclined to attend the Saturday program. Other participants had responsibilities such as family matters, work, or hospitalization while in the control group participants lost interest, decided to

partake in other exercise program or will also hospitalize. The idea of gender role is also considered because married men or more likely to participate in a similar type of application while women were less likely to participate even when doctors referred them to the program. According to the results, they found that the Tai Chi group with education and the Tai Chi only group had no significant change in blood pressure measurements. Two-factor that could explain why there was no change in blood pressure measurements that they found was that the participants had no me baseline rages and the blood pressures were well controlled. Another Factor was that the exercises were only performed once a week and for significant change to appear the activities would have needed to be completed more than once a week. Overall, they did find that the Tai Chi exercises with the nutritional education and stress management brought about positive behaviors in participants. Because lifestyle choices are essential to individuals with coronary artery disease changes in lifestyle and quality of life are suggested alternatives to more conventional therapies.
Overall any individual with any heart condition whether it be heart failure or coronary artery disease it's important to understand the severity of the situation, effects medications have, and the quality of life individual pursues. By speaking to medical professionals to better educate ourselves on the correct steps, we can take better control of our health. Since Tai Chi is a low-impact exercise, it encourages an individual to take time to correct their breathing, improve their mobility and flexibility but also gives them a chance to partake series of movements that are aimed to relieve stress and to help improve mental well-being. With the way that the world is now, it's hard for many of us to take time for ourselves relieve yourself from stress and to pay close attention to her health. Many of us take on more responsibilities than we can handle such as working, taking care of our family, or engaging in healthy social activities. But by participating in activities like Tai Chi or yoga where the movements are slow and gentle, and I are meant to improve self-confidence, to walk, and to relieve stress because it makes the individual focus more on exercise entirely rather than your everyday life. If we take more time out of our lives to focus on things that are essential to our health and making sure that our hearts are healthy enough to keep us going, then with along with proper nutritional education and stress management, it could be possible that we can change the quality of our lives. And with this, we can also extend how long we can live on and be able to do so much more change in our lives.