Effects of Qi-training on anxiety and plasma concentrations of cortisol, ACTH, and aldosterone: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot study
Abstract
Abstract The effects of Qi‐training on anxiety, and plasma concentrations of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and aldosterone in healthy young men was investigated. Thirty‐two subjects were randomly assigned to a sham control group or a Qi‐training group. Although the basal level of anxiety did not differ between the groups, there was a significant group by time interaction of the 1‐hour intervention; anxiety decreased by 26 per cent in the Qi‐training group and by 9 per cent in the control group. After Qi‐training, the plasma concentrations of ACTH, cortisol, and aldosterone decreased, but these levels did not change in the control group. These findings suggest that Qi‐training improves anxiety and has a significant effect on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Meditative movement practices help restore functionality to the autonomic nervous system, benefit depression and anxiety, and improve quality of life in many chronic diseases.
“MM practices help restore functionality to the ANS (Sun and Yan, 1992; Lee et al., 2003a,b, 2004), and also benefit depression and anxiety (Payne and Crane-Godreau, 2013) and improve quality of life in many chronic diseases (Chan and Larson, 2015; Wang et al., 2015).”
From Effectiveness of a Novel Qigong Meditative Movement Practice for Impaired Health in Flight Attendants Exposed to Second-Hand Cigarette Smoke (2017) · cites this paper as Lee et al., 2003a,b, 2004
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- Authors
- Lee, M. S., Kang, C., Lim, H., & Lee, M.
- Affiliations
- Mokpo Catholic University (KR)
- Jeonbuk National University (KR)
- Chodang University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Lee, Myeong Soo
- Venue
- Stress and Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2004-12
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 243-248
- ISSN
- 1532-2998 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-3005
- OpenAlex
- W2097999291
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 0.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Stress and Health (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Biofield Effects and Biophysics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- anxiety, cortisol, ACTH, aldosterone, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, stress response, traditional Chinese medicine
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