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This randomised controlled trial investigated whether a structured programme of mind-body Health Qigong exercise could improve depression severity and cognitive function in older adults residing at a senior care centre. Thirty-five participants were randomly allocated to either an intervention group or a control group. Those in the intervention group completed an eleven-week programme of Health Qigong Taiji Stick exercise, attending three forty-five-minute sessions each week. The control group continued their usual daily routines without any structured intervention.
Assessments were carried out before and after the intervention using the fifteen-item Geriatric Depression Scale to measure depression and the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination to evaluate cognitive function across several subdomains. At the end of the eleven weeks, participants in the intervention group showed statistically significant improvements in overall cognitive scores, with notable gains in orientation and immediate memory. Their depression scores also fell significantly. By contrast, the control group showed no meaningful improvement in overall cognition, experienced a significant decline in delayed recall, and reported a notable worsening of depression symptoms over the same period.
The authors note that, whilst the statistical findings are encouraging, the clinical significance of these results remains uncertain due to the small sample size, and they call for larger trials to confirm these benefits.
Conclusion: An eleven-week programme of Health Qigong exercise showed statistically significant reductions in depression severity and improvements in specific cognitive subdomains among older adults, though larger studies are needed to establish clinical significance.
Source: Cao L, Qi K, Dong X and colleagues. Frontiers in public health (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42483049) · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1853313
