1. Effects of Baduanjin Exercise on Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Status and Improving Quality of Life Among Middle-Aged Women
- Author
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Mei-Chi Hsu, Ya-Ping Liu, Tsai-Shu Wang, and Chi-Feng Liu
- Subjects
Aging ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Antioxidant ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Taiwan ,Physiology ,Physical function ,medicine.disease_cause ,Antioxidants ,Superoxide dismutase ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Quality of life ,Malondialdehyde ,medicine ,Humans ,Beneficial effects ,biology ,Superoxide Dismutase ,business.industry ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,Exercise Therapy ,Oxidative Stress ,Treatment Outcome ,Complementary and alternative medicine ,chemistry ,Social function ,Quality of Life ,biology.protein ,Physical therapy ,Women's Health ,Female ,business ,Oxidative stress - Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of Baduanjin exercise on oxidative stress, antioxidant status and quality of life in middle-aged women. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. Subjects were 31 middle-aged women. Subjects completed a supervised and standardized Baduanjin exercise program 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Malondialdehyde (MDA) level was measured and determined by using a spectrophotometer for oxidative stress. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) was measured for the antioxidant status. A 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to evaluate changes in quality of life. All outcome measures were collected before intervention and at the end of a 12-week intervention. The results suggest that there are significant differences in serum SOD level with Baduanjin exercise. SOD level was significantly increased after exercise ( p < 0.05). Baduanjin exercise contributed significantly to antioxidant status on these samples. However, a reduction in MDA level was observed. The t-test value was 2.03 with a p-value of 0.052. The changes may be meaningful at a 5% level. There are significant improvements in quality of life after the exercise program. Subjects had greater improvements in 4 dimensions of SF-36, namely physical function, body pain, social function and general mental health ( p < 0.05). In conclusion, Baduanjin exercise has beneficial effects on improving quality of life, increasing antioxidant enzymes and reducing oxidative stress in middle-aged women. Reduction of MDA level may be more attributable to the increase in the antioxidant enzyme SOD.
- Published
- 2008