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Fitness & Exercise for Senior Citizens
Practicing Tai Chi Provides Protection from Shingles
for Older People
UCLA study finds significant increase in immune
system
 March 23, 2007 Didn't get your shingles
vaccination? Maybe tai chi chih will provide the protection you need
from the painful, blistery rash of shingles. A new UCLA study says the
Westernized version of this 2,000-year-old martial art significantly
boosts the immune systems of older adults against the virus. Tai chi
chih is characterized by slow movement and meditation.
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The 25-week study, which involved a group of 112
adults ranging in age from 59 to 86, showed that practicing tai chi chih
alone boosted immunity to a level comparable to having received the
standard vaccine against the shingles-causing varicella zoster virus.
When tai chi chih was combined with the vaccine,
immunity reached a level normally seen in middle age. The report appears
in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,
currently online.
The results, said lead author Michael Irwin, the
Norman Cousins Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for
Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, confirm a positive,
virus-specific immune response to a behavioral intervention. The
findings demonstrate that tai chi chih can produce a clinically relevant
boost in shingles immunity and add to the benefit of the shingles
vaccine in older adults.
"These are exciting findings, because the positive
results of this study also have implications for other infectious
diseases, like influenza and pneumonia," said Irwin, who is also
director of the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology.
"Since older adults often show blunted protective
responses to vaccines, this study suggests that tai chi is an approach
that might complement and augment the efficacy of other vaccines, such
as influenza."
The study divided individuals into two groups. Half
took tai chi chih classes three times a week for 16 weeks, while the
other half attended health education classes including advice on
stress management, diet and sleep habits for the same amount of time
and did not practice tai chi chih.
After 16 weeks, both groups received a dose of the
shingles vaccine Varivax. At the end of the 25-week period, the tai chi
chih group achieved a level of immunity two times greater than the
health education group. The tai chi chih group also showed significant
improvements in physical functioning, vitality, mental health and
reduction of bodily pain.
The research follows the success of an earlier
pilot study that showed a positive immune response from tai chi chih but
did not assess its effects when combined with the vaccine.
The varicella zoster virus is the cause of
chickenpox in kids. Children who get chickenpox generally recover, but
the virus lives on in the body, remaining dormant. As we age, Irwin
said, our weakening immune systems may allow the virus to reemerge as
shingles. Approximately one-third of adults over 60 will acquire the
infection at some point.
"It can be quite painful," Irwin said, "and can
result in impairment to a person's quality of life that is comparable to
people with congestive heart failure, type II diabetes or major
depression."
Tai chi chih is a nonmartial form of tai chi and
comprises a standardized series of 20 movements. It combines meditation,
relaxation and components of aerobic exercise and is easy to learn.
The study was supported by grants from the National
Institute of Aging and the National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine.
The UCLA Cousin Center for Psychoneuroimmunology
encompasses an interdisciplinary network of scientists working to
advance the understanding of psychoneuroimmunology by linking basic and
clinical research programs and by translating findings into clinical
practice. The center is affiliated with the Semel Institute for
Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the David Geffen School of
Medicine at UCLA.
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