A sizable group of medical researchers connected to multiple Chinese universities have shown that after a year of consistent tai chi practice, volunteers’ systolic blood pressure decreased more than that of those who participated in aerobic exercise for the same duration.

Prehypertension is a state that precedes hypertension, which is another term for persistently elevated blood pressure. Previous studies have indicated that aerobic workouts, or those that quicken heart rate and breathing, help prevent hypertension in people who already have prehypertension. Reports have also indicated that tai chi has a similar impact.

The goal of this new study was to find out more about the effects of both hobbies over a full year. In order to do this, 349 prehypertensive adult participants were gathered. The group was divided roughly in half, with one subgroup pledging to practice tai chi for an hour, four times a week, for a year, and the other segment committing to the same frequency of cardiovascular exercises. Blood pressure readings were taken by the researchers at baseline, six months, and twelve months into the study.

Tai chi was determined to have a greater effect on lowering blood pressure than aerobic exercise by the researchers. More precisely, they discovered that when tested in an office environment and walking on a treadmill, volunteers in the tai chi group saw changes of -7.01 mmHg as opposed to -4.61 mmHg for those in the aerobic exercise group.

When the volunteers’ blood pressure was monitored while they slept, they discovered even bigger drops in the tai chi group. After the trial ended, the volunteers were still being watched, and it was discovered that fewer participants in the tai chi group developed hypertension than participants in the aerobic exercise group.