Study on the influence of 8-week mindfulness training combined with Taijiquan on the level of mindfulness and body composition of college students

Abstract

Abstract: Research objective: Mindfulness training and Tai Chi (hereinafter referred to as "mindful Tai Chi") is a combined training method. There have been relevant studies on the body composition of Tai Chi, but the impact of mindfulness tai chi intervention combined with mindfulness training and eight-week tai chi on the level of mindfulness and body composition of college students remains unclear. In view of this, this study took college students who did routine work and study at school and did not do regular exercise as the control group to explore the effects of 8-week mindfulness tai Chi exercise intervention on body composition (body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, skeletal muscle content, water content, protein content) of college students.Research methods: This study took healthy male college students who were not majoring in physical education in a university in Beijing as the research objects, excluding cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, bone and joint diseases, depression and anxiety disorders, and finally included 66 subjects who met the requirements of this study, with an average age of 18 to 21 years old, and were randomly divided into the control group (33 people) and the experimental group (33 people). The control group selected college students who did not exercise regularly and did not receive additional mindfulness training or exercise intervention; the experimental group received 8-week mindfulness Tai Chi intervention. The Tai Chi part of the intervention used in the experiment selected eight-form Tai Chi based on Yang's Tai Chi movements, which not only matched the basic technical characteristics of Tai Chi, but also showed that the Tai Chi movements were consistent with the basic technical characteristics of Tai Chi. Such as footwork, body method, technique, the movement of the center of gravity, the connection between the whole body coordination and force action is clear, smooth, simple, easy to learn, beautiful and generous. The mindfulness part is accompanied by a gentle, soft music that guides the practitioner to focus on himself and return to inner peace. Its essence is to help the practitioner to concentrate and calm the mind during the practice. Through practicing mindful Tai Chi, the practitioner is encouraged to face the difficulties encountered in reality and cultivate a positive and open mind to deal with the negative emotions and thoughts generated in life. This scheme is designed without losing the ecological nature of the research results. The exercise time was 40min each time, including 5min of non-pole pile exercise with mindfulness guidance language, 30min of eight-style Tai chi exercise (4min*6 sets, 1min interval between groups), 5min of relaxation part of non-pole pile with music, and the exercise frequency was 3 times a week. The Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) developed by Brown and Ryan in 2003 was used to evaluate the level of mindfulness before and after the intervention. Body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, skeletal muscle content, water content and protein content of the subjects were measured by the In Body 220 bioimpedance human body composition analyzer to evaluate the body composition indexes before and after the intervention. SPSS 27.0 was used to conduct paired sample T-test for the level of mindfulness and body composition before and after intervention in the group, and independent sample T-test for the changes in the level of mindfulness and body composition of each group after intervention. Descriptive statistics are described in the form of mean ± standard deviation. Results: (1) There was significant difference in the level of mindfulness between the experimental group (43.76±8.76) and the control group (56.55±16.02) (p < 0.05); The level of mindfulness in the experimental group before (38.73±11.16) and after (43.76±8.76) was significantly different (p < 0.01), and the level of mindfulness after intervention was significantly better than that before intervention.The body weight of the experimental group (67.04±9.29) was significantly different from that of the control group (70.71±10.01) (p < 0.05). The body weight of the experimental group (69.98±10.23) was significantly different from that of the control group (67.04±9.29) (p < 0.01), and the body weight after intervention was significantly lower than that before intervention; There was significant difference in BMI between the experimental group (21.79±2.46) and the control group (23.06±2.75) (p < 0.05). The BMI index of the experimental group before (22.33±2.69) and after (21.79±2.46) was significantly different (p < 0.01), and the BMI index after intervention was significantly lower than that before intervention; The body fat percentage of the experimental group (15.58±4.59) was significantly different from that of the control group (16.84±4.99) (p < 0.05). The body fat percentage of the experimental group before (16.59±4.93) and after (15.58±4.59) was significantly different (p < 0.01), and the body fat percentage after intervention was significantly lower than that before intervention. There was no significant difference in muscle mass between the experimental group (107.51±9.41) and the control group (107.05±8.94) (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in muscle mass between the experimental group before (106.92±9.00) and the experimental group after (107.11±9.41) (p > 0.05). The muscle mass changed little after intervention and before intervention. There was no significant difference in water content between the experimental group (57.39±3.38) and the control group (57.23±3.22) (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in water content between the experimental group before (57.18±3.18) and after (57.39±3.38) (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in protein content between the experimental group (21.87±1.56) and the control group (21.79±1.50) (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in protein content between the experimental group before (21.82±1.52) and the experimental group after (21.87±1.56) (p > 0.05). The protein content changed little after intervention and before intervention. Conclusion: (1) 8-week mindfulness Tai Chi intervention can improve the mindfulness level of college students. (2) 8-week mindful Tai Chi intervention can effectively reduce the weight, BMI and body fat percentage of college students, but there is no significant difference in the influence of muscle mass, water and protein content. And 8-week mindful Tai Chi intervention can only improve part of the body composition of the practitioners, but not comprehensively improve the body composition of the practitioners. This study provides a theoretical and practical basis for college students to choose reasonable exercise means.