...yowch!

How many people do you know who got a flu shot and immediately came down with the flu?  It’s one of the potential side effects of the flu vaccine.  How would you like to boost your immune system naturally and without side effects?  You can do just that and greatly reduce your changes of coming down with the flu, and other diseases as well.

While a host of medical studies have been done showing that tai chi does in fact boost the immune system, tai chi actually takes a multifaceted approach.  One of those ways is stress reduction.  Doctors tell us that excessive stress is a key factor in developing a variety of sicknesses.  Tai chi has been shown to be a very effective stress reducer.

As more and more research is done on tai chi, science is beginning to prove what the Chinese have been telling us for some time. “Tai chi supports and strengthens the entire body.”  There are medical studies demonstrating that tai chi can stabilize blood pressure, improve joint health, increase bone density, help us breathe better with increased lung capacity, even improve our balance among other things.

According to One Medical Study: “… what we are really testing is the overall immune memory [cell] and function. Since those memory cells are critical in a whole host of viral infections, I would expect these findings to generalize to other infections…”

According to a WebMD Medical News article by Daniel DeNoon written in September of 2003 titled “Tai Chi Each Day Keeps Shingles Away” stated that taiji practice seems to boost the overall immune system. In arriving at this conclusion the study noted a positive relationship between the risk of contracting shingles and Tai Chi. If you’ve had chickenpox, the virus never really goes away and you are at risk for shingles if your immune system dips. The study noted a 50% increase in associated immune cells, “enough to actually prevent shingles”.

Michael Irwin, MD of UCLA

Michael Irwin, MD of UCLA, conducted this study and states “But what we are really testing is the overall immune memory and function. Since those memory cells are critical in a whole host of viral infections, I would expect these findings to generalize to other infections …Shingles is a debilitating illness. There are no medical treatments to prevent shingles. No medical treatment has yet been shown to boost shingles immunity. This novel behavioral intervention – tai chi – may have those beneficial effects and it looked to us that the people who practice tai chi had improved ability to carry out day-to-day activities …”

As reported by the National Institutes for Health, a similar 2007 study was done by a team also lead by Dr Irwin. Testing done in conjunction with a vaccine for shingles, now available, found that tai chi alone had a similar increase in participants’ immunity to varicella as much as the vaccine typically produces in 30-40 year old adults … combined with the vaccine tai chi produced a significantly higher level of immunity, about 40 percent … over the vaccine alone.

Doing a Google search on tai chi medical studies yields about 334,000 results.  If you’d like to narrow that down just a bit.  There are a few other medical studies sited on my website at www.camptaichi.com/health-stories-medical-research.  You can also find interesting information by going to the Mayo Clinic’s site at www.mayoclinic.com and doing a search for “tai chi”.

So if you’re healthy and are thinking about getting a flu shot this year consider tai chi.  If your doctor has advised you to get a flu shot, go ahead and get it. Tai chi has also been shown to increase its effectiveness.

Anyone may copy this article and use it however they see fit, as long as it is copied in its entirety with all links, the author’s information, and this statement.  You may also email John@beginningtaich.net.