Health
It just so happens that the word “yoga” says much more to our average person than the word “Tai Chi”. Meanwhile, Tai Chi, a recreational Chinese gymnastics, and, at the same time, a martial art, can benefit the human body no less than yoga classes. Moreover, this gymnastics, due to the presence of a huge number of soft and smooth movements, is quite accessible to most old and sick people. According to one of the latest studies on this topic, tai chi chuan exercises can help older people with drastically impaired vision. No, doing these exercises will not restore sight to these people, but it can also help protect them from falls due to poor vision. And, as you know, falls at this age can have fatal consequences for older people.
It's no secret that one of the factors that makes it easy to keep our balance is our eyesight. Do a simple experiment — lift one leg, place it on the thigh (or knee) of the other leg, and stand as long as possible. Did you succeed? Now try closing your eyes and doing the same thing. It is unlikely that you will be able to maintain your balance in this case without special training. Researchers from Hong Kong Polytechnic University became interested in the problem of maintaining the balance of elderly people with low vision and organized a special research program. The experiment, which lasted four months, involved 40 elderly people over 70 years of age living in nursing homes. All participants in the experiment performed various simple sets of Tai Chi exercises three times a week for three weeks. Each training session was divided into several parts (90 minutes in total) that were performed throughout the day. It is clear that every elderly person who took part in this program suffered from problems related to visual impairment and from impaired coordination of movement, as a result of these problems.
All exercises were chosen to help volunteer participants learn how to move their body weight gradually: specific exercises for the head, torso and limbs helped older people feel better about their bodies, which meant better overall coordination of movement. As a result, older people have learned much better than their peers, who also live in nursing homes, to coordinate their movements and maintain body balance when moving. “Tai Chi is a gymnastics whose effective exercises are very suitable for people with visual impairment. These exercises actually help such people significantly improve their ability to maintain their body balance in space, “said study leader Dr. William in an interview William Tsang. — It would be very interesting to expand the scope of the study to include older people who live on their own. This gymnastics could be of great benefit to those elderly people who, despite their old age and health problems, are trying to lead an independent lifestyle.”
Dr. Tsang also noted that Tai Chi exercises require a full understanding of the position in the arms, legs and other parts of the body. Many exercises are characterized by limited movements, which in turn can help improve so-called deep sensitivity (proprioception), that is, the sense of the position of parts your own body relative to each other. “A very important element in this gymnastics is exercises that require repeated head movements. This helps stimulate the vestibular system and, as a result, improve the ability to keep your body in balance,” Tsang concluded.