5 Scientific Benefits of Doing Qigong (Breathwork) Every Day

Breathwork seems to be something that's very trendy today in the wellness and the personal development space. I mean the number of times here in Los Angeles I've seen a workshop pop up for breathwork is crazy. Whatever the reason it is trending, the original form of breathwork probably was called Daoyin, which is the precursor to Qigong. Now I'm sure in India, yogic practices have been doing pranayama and various breathing exercises for maybe even longer than they have been in China. But today I thought I would share probably what is the most common worldwide, which is Qigong, and specifically some of the science behind it. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hein, author of the health book Master of the Day and doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. So before we jump into this video, two links right below are very important. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, you can contact my private practice right below this video. And the second is for a free guide, which is four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. Now I'll say what I think is the first benefit of Qigong is purely because it is the perfect combination of exercise and meditation. So Qigong is different because it fuses three key things typically. It is a combination of physical movements or exercises, visualization, or some kind of guided intention, and breathing exercises. So these breathing exercises can be everything from just lengthening the breath, to breath holds, to reverse breathing, to contracting certain parts of your body, and everything in between. But really the combination of all three is what makes something Qigong. So technically you could do physical exercise as Qigong, but we tend to see that the benefits of Qigong are similar to the benefits of exercise on one side, better immune system functioning, better sleep, more energy, more lean muscle mass, more stamina, and on the other side you also get the benefits of meditation which is a down regulating, a calming of the nervous system, and just a general more relaxed and more calm state. Deeper and better sleep for example. But let's talk about four more of the real scientific benefits of Qigong because I think with breath work being so trendy these days, it's interesting to know. Now the first benefit is that it can lower blood pressure. Now that should be no surprise because one level of Qigong is that it is just exercise and we know exercise can do that too. But check this out. One randomized clinical trial in 2004 studied the effects of Qigong on hypertension. Now to evaluate that the researchers measured obviously blood pressure and other measures of lipid levels for example. Now the study divided 36 people into a practice group doing Qigong or in the control group. After eight weeks the average blood pressure in the Qigong group decreased significantly and additionally other important measurements related to high blood pressure also decreased significantly. Now the third point about Qigong is that it can potentially improve cancer outcomes. So one study done with hepatocellular carcinoma divided people into two groups. One group basically received the treatment for that cancer and the other group had the treatment plus Qigong. So the Qigong group had two hours of Qigong twice a week for six weeks. So four hours a week for about a month and a half. They were doing three and a half to five hours of home practice for 24 weeks. Now the study is too small to really make broader conclusions but what was interesting is in this small study the survival rate was 52.6% in the Qigong group versus 29% in the control group. So that was almost double. The fourth benefit is that Qigong can potentially help depression. Now in another trial done in 2006 there were 82 participants and they had depression and they were either put in an intervention group or the control group. Now this study went for 16 weeks where the intervention group practiced Qigong and the comparison group all they did the control just read the newspaper for the same duration of frequency right so that was the control. Now what they noted was that self-reported measurements of depression like mood, self-efficacy, personal well-being, physical health, their social health and social well-being all had improved in the group that was doing Qigong versus the group that was just reading the newspaper. Now last something that's very important, Qigong can improve the functioning of your immune system. So in another study done in 2004 researchers found that just one month of practicing Qigong produced significant immunological changes. So this again was a small trial but after doing Qigong daily for a month researchers had studied collected blood samples of general immunological parameters like leukocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and they found that there were statistically significant differences between the control and the group that did Qigong every day. Now this last study should not be that surprising because exercise often will do the exact same thing but nonetheless it's a really important perk and benefit of doing Qigong, breath work or any kind of exercise. And a little pro tip, Qigong really in my mind I mean the literal translation potentially is Qi or breath work. So this is I think the original breath work because breath work is so trendy today along with probably yogic practices in India which are probably even older or maybe the same age. I'm not a scholar of that tradition and I don't know too much about the historical timelines but either way these are very very ancient practices over thousands of years and the big benefit I see of Qigong over for example physical exercise that's hard is that you won't feel increase in fatigue from Qigong the next day and it's easy on the joints. So if you're older or if you're ill or already very tired physical exercise will be very taxing. You'll need more rest the next day to feel rested but with Qigong you can even sleep less and feel more rested. That's what I have for you today, five benefits of Qigong backed by science. Before you guys go check out those links right below this video and I will see you soon in these related videos here.