Reduce Anxiety and Depression in Coronary Heart Disease Patients with Tai Chi
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“Tai chi is an interesting, promising exercise option. I think based on what we found, it’s a reasonable and safe step to offer tai chi within cardiac rehab.” – Elena Salmoriago-Blotcher
Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined. There are myriads of treatments that have been developed to treat cardiovascular disease including a variety of surgical procedures and medications. Importantly, lifestyle changes have proved to be quite effective. These include quitting smoking, weight reduction, improved diet, physical activity, and reducing stresses. Contemplative practices, such as meditation, tai chi, and yoga, have also been shown to be helpful for heart health. These practices have also been shown to be helpful for producing the kinds of other lifestyle changes needed such as smoking cessation, weight reduction and stress reduction.
Cardiac rehabilitation programs for patients recovering from implantation of a stent for coronary heart disease, emphasize lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, 60% of coronary heart disease patients decline participation, making these patients at high risk for a heart attack. Tai Chi and Qigong are ancient mindfulness practices involving slow prescribed movements. They are gentle and completely safe, can be used with the elderly and sickly, are inexpensive to administer, can be performed in groups or alone, at home or in a facility or even public park, and can be quickly learned. In addition, they can also be practiced in social groups without professional supervision. This can make it fun, improving the likelihood of long-term engagement in the practice. Since Tai Chi is both a mindfulness practice and a gentle exercise, it may be an acceptable, safe, and effective treatment for coronary heart disease patients.
In today’s Research News article “The 24-Form Tai Chi Improves Anxiety and Depression and Upregulates miR-17-92 in Coronary Heart Disease Patients After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7078346/), Liu and colleagues recruited coronary heart disease patients who had a myocardial infarction and a stent implanted less than 4 days prior. The patients received usual care and were randomly assigned to receive either no further treatment or Tai Chi practice twice a day for 60 minutes for 10 months. They were measured before and after the 10-month practice period for anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and quality of life. In addition, blood was drawn and measured for miR-17-92.
They found that in comparison to baseline and the control group, the group that received Tai Chi training had significantly lower levels of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress and significantly higher levels of quality of life and miR-17-92. In addition, they found that the higher the levels of miR-17-92 the lower the levels of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress.
It should be noted that the control condition was not active. Future research should have an active control that performed some other activity of comparable duration, perhaps another type of exercise or health education. Nevertheless, the results show that Tai Chi practice can significantly improve the psychological well-being of coronary heart disease patients after surgery to insert a stent.
Prior research has demonstrated the RNA segments are associated with anxiety and depression. The current research also detected this relationship. But the study also demonstrated that the improvements in anxiety, depression, and perceived stress were associated with increased levels of miR-17-92. This may indicate a mechanism of action by which Tai Chi practice improves psychological well-being. It remains for future research to further explore this interesting possibility.
So, reduce anxiety and depression in coronary heart disease patients with Tai Chi.
“Tai chi shows promise for patients with existing heart disease. Participants in the intensive tai chi program were significantly more active, lost more weight and reported a higher quality of life.” – CardioSmart
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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Study Summary
Liu, J., Yu, P., Lv, W., & Wang, X. (2020). The 24-Form Tai Chi Improves Anxiety and Depression and Upregulates miR-17-92 in Coronary Heart Disease Patients After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Frontiers in physiology, 11, 149. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00149
Abstract
Background
Anxiety and depression are common symptoms in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The 24-form Tai Chi may exert a protective function for CHD patients after PCI by improving anxiety and depression.
Methods
Patients who received PCI after 1–4 days were randomly assigned to the 24-form Tai Chi group (TG) and the control group (CG). The differences in anxiety and depression, using the Medical Outcomes Study 36−item Short−Form Health Survey (SF-36), before and after an average of 10 months of Tai Chi intervention were compared in both groups to analyze the effects of Tai Chi on the emotion and the life quality of CHD patients. Meanwhile, the relative levels of miR-17-92 were measured by using real-time qPCR. The association between the relative levels of miR-17-92 and the anxiety and the depression of CHD patients after PCI was analyzed. Adjusted Cox models were used to explore the effect of Tai Chi exercise in CHD patients.
Results
After 10 months of intervention, the changes in the anxiety subscale (P = 0.002), in the depression subscale (P = 0.008), and in the stress (P = 0.015) scores were higher in the TG group when compared to those of the CG group. The proportion of anxious (P = 0.045) and depressed subjects (P = 0.042) in the TG group was lower than that in the CG group. On the other hand, the increase in the SF-36 scores and in the relative levels of miR-17-92 was significantly higher in the TG group when compared with that of the CG group (P < 0.05). The serum level of miR-17-92 had a negative correlation with the anxiety, the depression, and the stress scores (P < 0.01).
Conclusion
The 24-form Tai Chi improved the anxiety and the depression symptoms and upregulated the miR-17-92 levels in CHD patients after PCI.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7078346/