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      A Randomized Controlled Trial of Qigong Exercise on Fatigue Symptoms, Functioning, and Telomerase Activity in Persons with Chronic Fatigue or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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          Abstract

          Background

          Chronic fatigue is common in the general population. Complementary therapies are often used by patients with chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome to manage their symptoms.

          Purpose

          This study aimed to assess the effect of a 4-month qigong intervention program among patients with chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome.

          Methods

          Sixty-four participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a wait list control group. Outcome measures included fatigue symptoms, physical functioning, mental functioning, and telomerase activity.

          Results

          Fatigue symptoms and mental functioning were significantly improved in the qigong group compared to controls. Telomerase activity increased in the qigong group from 0.102 to 0.178 arbitrary units ( p < 0.05). The change was statistically significant when compared to the control group ( p < 0.05).

          Conclusion

          Qigong exercise may be used as an alternative and complementary therapy or rehabilitative program for chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome.

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          Most cited references48

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          Telomere length assessment: biomarker of chronic oxidative stress?

          Joyce M.J. Houben, Harald Moonen, Frederik van Schooten … (2008)
          Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures, located at the ends of chromosomes and are subject to shortening at each cycle of cell division. They prevent chromosomal ends from being recognized as double strand breaks and protect them from end to end fusion and degradation. Telomeres consist of stretches of repetitive DNA with a high G-C content and are reported to be highly sensitive to damage induced by oxidative stress. The resulting DNA strand breaks can be formed either directly or as an intermediate step during the repair of oxidative bases. In contrast to the majority of genomic DNA, there is evidence that telomeric DNA is deficient in the repair of single strand breaks. Since chronic oxidative stress plays a major role in the pathophysiology of several chronic inflammatory diseases, it is hypothesized that telomere length is reducing at a faster rate during oxidative stress. Therefore, assessment of telomere length might be a useful biomarker of disease progression. In this review several features of telomere length regulation, their relation with oxidative stress, and the potential application of measurement of telomere length as biomarker of chronic oxidative stress, will be discussed.
          Article 0 comments Cited 164 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Telomere shortening and mood disorders: preliminary support for a chronic stress model of accelerated aging.

            Naomi Simon, Jordan W. Smoller, Kate McNamara … (2006)
            Little is known about the biological mechanisms underlying the excess medical morbidity and mortality associated with mood disorders. Substantial evidence supports abnormalities in stress-related biological systems in depression. Accelerated telomere shortening may reflect stress-related oxidative damage to cells and accelerated aging, and severe psychosocial stress has been linked to telomere shortening. We propose that chronic stress associated with mood disorders may contribute to excess vulnerability for diseases of aging such as cardiovascular disease and possibly some cancers through accelerated organismal aging. Telomere length was measured by Southern Analysis in 44 individuals with chronic mood disorders and 44 nonpsychiatrically ill age-matched control subjects. Telomere length was significantly shorter in those with mood disorders, representing as much as 10 years of accelerated aging. These results provide preliminary evidence that mood disorders are associated with accelerated aging and may suggest a novel mechanism for mood disorder-associated morbidity and mortality.
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              Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study.

              Dean Ornish, Jue Lin, Jennifer Daubenmier … (2008)
              Telomeres are protective DNA-protein complexes at the end of linear chromosomes that promote chromosomal stability. Telomere shortness in human beings is emerging as a prognostic marker of disease risk, progression, and premature mortality in many types of cancer, including breast, prostate, colorectal, bladder, head and neck, lung, and renal cell. Telomere shortening is counteracted by the cellular enzyme telomerase. Lifestyle factors known to promote cancer and cardiovascular disease might also adversely affect telomerase function. However, previous studies have not addressed whether improvements in nutrition and lifestyle are associated with increases in telomerase activity. We aimed to assess whether 3 months of intensive lifestyle changes increased telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). 30 men with biopsy-diagnosed low-risk prostate cancer were asked to make comprehensive lifestyle changes. The primary endpoint was telomerase enzymatic activity per viable cell, measured at baseline and after 3 months. 24 patients had sufficient PBMCs needed for longitudinal analysis. This study is registered on the ClinicalTrials.gov website, number NCT00739791. PBMC telomerase activity expressed as natural logarithms increased from 2.00 (SD 0.44) to 2.22 (SD 0.49; p=0.031). Raw values of telomerase increased from 8.05 (SD 3.50) standard arbitrary units to 10.38 (SD 6.01) standard arbitrary units. The increases in telomerase activity were significantly associated with decreases in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (r=-0.36, p=0.041) and decreases in psychological distress (r=-0.35, p=0.047). Comprehensive lifestyle changes significantly increase telomerase activity and consequently telomere maintenance capacity in human immune-system cells. Given this finding and the pilot nature of this study, we report these increases in telomerase activity as a significant association rather than inferring causation. Larger randomised controlled trials are warranted to confirm the findings of this study.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                : tinho@hku.hk
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Ann Behav Med
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Ann Behav Med
                Title: Annals of Behavioral Medicine
                Publisher: Springer-Verlag (New York )
                ISSN (Print): 0883-6612
                ISSN (Electronic): 1532-4796
                Publication date (Electronic): 27 June 2012
                Publication date PMC-release: 27 June 2012
                Publication date (Print): October 2012
                Volume: 44
                Issue: 2
                Pages: 160-170
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Centre on Behavioral Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
                [2 ]Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
                [3 ]International Association for Health and Yangsheng, Hong Kong, China
                [4 ]Department of Clinical Oncology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
                [5 ]Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
                Article
                Publisher ID: 9381
                DOI: 10.1007/s12160-012-9381-6
                PMC ID: 3442161
                PubMed ID: 22736201
                SO-VID: e9ded0ba-7222-4a8f-b3a1-d6ee613fef01
                Copyright © © The Author(s) 2012
                History
                Categories
                Subject: Original Article
                Custom metadata
                issue-copyright-statement © The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2012

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Neurology
                Keywords: exercise,telomerase,chronic fatigue,qigong,randomized controlled trial
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Neurology
                Keywords: exercise, telomerase, chronic fatigue, qigong, randomized controlled trial

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