A study done at the University of Kebangsaan in Malaysia shows that regular practice of Tai Chi over a period of six years reduces DNA damage in older people. The study also show how Tai Chi can effect the body positively in many of it’s internal functional and facets, such as improved immunity, cholesterol, body mass, cell regeneration, reduced heart rate etc. I’ll highlight a bit of the study below, but it is well worth reading the full research article which can be found here: www.e-mjm.org

Results obtained from our study have shown that long term regular Tai Chi exercise helped to reduce the heart rate of older adults. This is similar to the results of previous studies, which have reported that adaptation to regular exercise helped to reduce heart rate. Besides improvement in strength of heart muscles, this effect has been suggested to be due to more efficient blood utilization in the tissues as a result of increased density of capillaries in the skeletal muscles. The reduction of heart rate among the older adults is beneficial as it helps to reduce their cardiac workload. Similar to other forms of exercise, adaptation to regular Tai Chi has also been found to increase the level of HDL among the older adults. The increase in HDL is crucial as it helps to prevent coronary artery diseases by transporting excess cholesterol into the biliary system for decomposition. Besides impeding the accumulation of cholesterol in peripheral tissues, regular Tai Chi exercise is also suggested to help increase the muscle mass of older adults as increased creatinine levels have been found in the Tai Chi participants as compared to their sedentary counterparts. The concentration of creatinine have been reported to reflect the muscle mass of the body as creatinine is formed spontaneously from creatine, where its concentration correlates significantly with muscle mass.”

…In the present study, we found that practicing Tai Chi exercise for about six years reduced oxidative DNA damage in older adults. Results of our investigation are in line with these previous findings reporting that exercise helped to stimulate DNA repair mechanisms because the lower level of DNA damage observed in the Tai Chi subjects was accompanied by a reduction in the frequency of SCE, which is produced from the mis-repair of DNA occurring during the repair process.

…similar to the results of our study, previous researchers have also found that the frequency of SCE in the peripheral blood lymphocytes are lower in healthy Tai Chi practitioners as compared to their sedentary counterparts at resting conditions. If SCE represents a form of DNA misrepair as has been suggested earlier, our findings would indicate that long term Tai Chi exercise increases the proficiency of DNA repair mechanism. Long term Tai Chi exercise was also found to increase lymphocyte apoptosis and proliferation in our subjects. The high percentage of apoptotic cell death among the Tai Chi participants even at rest is in agreement with a study which suggested that apoptosis signal persist for 24 hours after a bout of exercise. … As lymphocyte apoptosis was found to be elevated in the Tai Chi participants, ROS produced during each session of regular Tai Chi exercise might have helped to increase apoptosis signal in the older adults even at rest. However, the amount of ROS generated by the exercise is suggested to be relatively low but sufficient to stimulate apoptosis as no visible oxidative DNA damage was found in the Tai Chi participants. It has been suggested that regulated lymphocyte apoptosis is crucial for the coordination of immune response and lymphocyte population. … Elevated lymphocyte proliferation is beneficial as it helps to restore the decreased immune response, which usually accompanies the aging process. The increased apoptosis and proliferation of lymphocytes with Tai Chi exercise may also help to prevent replicative senescence in aging. … In conclusion, long term Tai Chi exercise stimulated apoptosis and proliferation of lymphocytes, even at rest, possibly through mild enhancement of oxidative stress in the older adults. The increased occurrence of these processes may help to prevent replicative senescence by renewal and regeneration of old lymphocytes. Tai Chi exercise is also beneficial in improving the proficiency of DNA repair mechanisms as evidenced by diminished frequency of SCE in the Tai Chi participants.”