Tai Chi for the Shingles

Meditation and exercise are good for you: both practices improve
flexibility, reduce stress and keep you in shape. As it turns out, these
habits may help strengthen your immune system as well. A recent study of
elderly adults who practiced Tai Chi finds the martial art increased
immunity to shingles, a painful rash related to chicken pox.

Chickenpox attacks are caused by the varicella zoster virus.
Children who get the disease generally recover quickly, but the body
doesn't completely get rid of the virus—it remains dormant in the nerve
tissue of the body. With age, the weakening immune system may allow the
virus to re-emerge as shingles: a painful rash that causes pain lasting
for months of years.

To find out if the virus might be held in check through a regular
program of meditative exercise, Michael Irwin a professor at the UCLA
Neuropsychiatric Institute conducted a comparative study. He asked half
of a group of 36 elderly adults to follow a 15-week program of Tai Chi
Chih, a westernized version of the 3,000-year-old martial art Tai Chi
Chuan. A week after the program was complete, Irwin measured the
subjects' immune response to the shingles virus. As compared to the group
who hadn't been exercising, this half of the study showed an average 50
percent increase in the immune cells. This helps control shingles and
other diseases as well.

The Tai Chi students' overall health improved. Adults who suffered
from physical impairments, such as a limp, showed the greatest
improvement.

Although the study focused only on the shingles virus, Irwin
expects similar results for other diseases. "I would expect to see
changes across a whole host of responses for a whole host of various
viral infections," he says.

Tai Chi Chih is a standardized series of 20 movements developed for
older adults. It combines meditation, relaxation and components of
aerobic exercise. It is easy to learn, and can be taught from a
manual.

The report appeared in the September issue of
Psychosomatic Medicine. Irwin plans a follow-up
study to examine the duration of the increased immune response, and to
investigate how Tai Chi actually improves health.