Psychotherapy and Tai Chi

An interesting study came out recently showing how a combination of psychotherapy and martial art Tai Chi can help those suffering from insomnia and a host of other related illnesses.

This should not come as a major surprise, since both psychotherapy and tai chi both focus on helping you deal with the emotions behind various challenges in your life.

Understanding the new research

The study discovered how 13% of men and 36% of women 65 and older took 30 minutes or longer to fall asleep every night. It was still challenging afterwards for them to continue to stay asleep.

Since the quality of sleep is tremendously important to those who are at a higher risk for disease and illness, it is important to combat this challenge.

Therefore, it was important to know how these two alternative treatments can help reduce insomnia in comparison to traditional medication. Organic cures have the ability to help the body naturally recover their strength.

Furthermore, medications have a number of side effects like sleep eating, sleep driving, constipation, and dry mouth. Obviously, neither psychotherapy or Tai Chi have these problems.

The study had 123 participants, all over the 55. The research broke down the subjects of the case study into three different groups.

The first group received a psychotherapeutic technique called Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for two hours a week over 4 months. The second group used Tai Chi exclusively for same time frame. The third group was presented with educational videos about the importance of sleep hygiene, aging, and insomnia.

All three groups saw a reduction in insomnia. However, the greatest reductions came from Tai Chi and CBT. The thinking is that CBT reduces inflammation, as well as possibly decreasing the risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

This only makes sense, since lifestyle is a huge factor in heart disease. The more stresses you put on yourself, the more chances you have of becoming diabetic or experiencing a cardiovascular episode.

One year after the results, those who took CBT and tai chi still had reduced levels of the blood cells protein C- reactive, as well as a reduction in the inflammatory cytokines.

Reducing inflammation in combination with an increase in sleep lowers the level of cardiovascular diseases, depression, and cancer.

Final Thoughts

Using Tai Chi and Cognitive Behavior Therapy together can seriously reduce insomnia among those over the age of 55.

In an era where medications are prescribed for every ache and problem in the human body, it is good to know that natural solutions are available that have the potential to help the human body improve over the long-term.

If you have any questions about how we can use psychotherapy and tai chi for your well-being, please contact us at 847-824-8366.