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Thread: Taijiquan's health (or longevity) benefits overrated?

  1. #61
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    Just supplement with resveratrol, it will be even healthier.

  2. #62
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    A centenarian

    HBD Genevieve Byars!

    Tai Chi helping woman reach 100th birthday
    100-year-old dancer practices Tai Chi to stay mobile. (August 30, 2016)

    John Bartell, KXTV 8:08 PM. EST August 30, 2016



    An ancient form of martial arts could be the key to a long life.

    Its working for a Sacramento woman who is turning 100 years old next week. She contributes her new found mobility to Tai Chi.

    "I feel great! It makes me feel young and I am good at it," said Genevieve Byars.

    Byars lost her mobility more than a decade ago.

    "I used to be a real good dancer," Byars recalled.

    In the 1950's she was a regular dancing audience member on the Lawrence Welk Show.

    "I met a lot of boyfriends then, but they dint treat me right," Byars said. "Some got fresh!"

    Byars' son Donny McCollum got her started on Tai Chi 4 years ago. Now she takes regular walks around the house. McCollum says his mom is getting so good at Tai Chi that he set up a punching bag for her.

    Her birthday is on Monday. The goal is to celebrate by going dancing.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #63
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    Add Tai Chi to your resolution list

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  4. #64
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    IMO, Taiji, taught properly, can be a real benefit to many people, especially older and those who are recovering from injuries or health issues, etc.

    That said, in Taiwan, the LEAST healthy teachers and masters I saw were the pure (mostly Yang style) Taiji/internal guys. They didn't seem to do any other exercise, and also many had poor health habits, i.e., smoking, poor diets, etc. The middle-aged and up ones I saw (which were many) were all way out of shape. They seemed to feel that the 'chi/qi' would miraculously cancel out all those bad habits, if they even considered them bad habits. Some of them would even say that sweating from exercising is bad for you. It's really only an excuse for laziness and lack of personal responsibility for one's own health, while also claiming to have special powers and abilities above everyone else.

    Among the healthiest old masters I saw over there was one old guy who had done bodybuilding and some 'Shaolin' when he was young in China. This guy vigorously walked everywhere he went, and when he'd socialize with some of the Taiji teachers, he literally walked circles around them, and his eyes were sharper and he had greater mental acuity than they did. Another guy was an old, former Peking/Beijing opera performer who still pracriced splits, high leg holding and forward handsprings. And neither of these guys had the pear-shaped "Buddha belly" that typified the typical Taiji teachers', who always claimed the fat was a sign of their highly-developed 'chi/qi'.
    Last edited by Jimbo; 01-15-2018 at 12:10 PM.

  5. #65
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    Ethel Allen

    Woman credits good genes and Tai chi for longevity on her 100th birthday
    by Kassandra Gutierrez Friday, November 1st 2019



    Ethel Allen turned 100 on November 1, 2019. (SBG)

    SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - Ethel Allen turned 100 on November 1, 2019.

    She says she doesn’t know how to feel about achieving a triple-digit age but says, “I will survive.”

    Family visited her from Nashville, Tenn., for the milestone birthday.

    “I wouldn’t miss it for the world," her granddaughter Holly said Friday.

    Ethel credits her good genes for her longevity: Her mother lived until 84 and her father until 95.

    But she says Tai chi and her healthy lifestyle have also helped.

    Ethel has been doing Tai chi for about 20 years, the last 15 years of those at Sacred Hearth Medical Center at RiverBend.

    She also gets a daily phone call from a friend at 9:30 every morning and one from her son-in-law at 8:30 every evening just to make sure she is OK.
    THREADS
    Give it up to the elderly!!!!!
    Taijiquan's health (or longevity) benefits overrated?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  6. #66
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    Silver shock

    China’s ageing population prompts plan to deal with looming silver shock
    Five-point strategy unveiled in first policy paper aimed at the most daunting social and political challenge of coming decades
    Estimates say over-60s will make up one third of the population by 2050
    Phoebe Zhang
    Published: 7:00am, 24 Nov, 2019


    Beijing has called for an active response to China’s looming demographic crisis, with one third of its population estimated to be over 60 by 2050. Photo: AFP

    China has outlined a five-point strategy for managing its ageing population in its first policy paper to tackle the country’s most daunting social and political challenges of the coming decades.
    The paper, jointly issued by the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, acknowledged that the country faced a serious ageing problem but said China must “find its own way out, and that means taking a path with Chinese characteristics”.
    The document does not give a specific estimate of China’s elderly population but China’s National Community on Ageing has estimated that, by 2050, those aged over 60 could reach 487 million, about one third of the population.
    According to the paper, which was published by official news agency Xinhua on Thursday, Beijing is calling for an active response to the ageing problem with short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, to be achieved by 2022, 2035 and 2050 respectively.
    These years correspond to China’s goals for achieving socialist modernisation – with attaining common prosperity for the general population one of the yardsticks for measuring success.
    Specifically, the paper said China should deal with the ageing problem through increased social investment and input, building a high quality workforce, better health care and retirement services, use of advanced and innovative technologies, and enhanced legal and social protections.
    Lu Jiehua, a demographics professor and expert for the National Development and Reform Commission, told Beijing News that possible measures included building a bigger pension pool by investing in lower risk but secure projects, strengthening the quality of the Chinese workforce, and growing the “silver hair” industry.


    Residents practice tai chi at one of Beijing’s luxury retirement communities. Photo: EPA-EFE

    Demographers have warned that direct consequences of China’s ageing population include a shrinking workforce and a weakening of the country’s economic strength.
    Yi Fuxian, a researcher on China’s ageing population at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, noted that the demographic shift could undermine China’s ability to compete with the US in the long term.
    “In the past it has been a young China catching up with a middle-aged US, that’s why [China] has managed to close the gap between the two countries rather quickly. Now it’s going to be an old China trying to chase a middle-aged US, and the gap [between the two countries] is likely to get wider and wider. China’s ageing population can become an obstacle for the country trying to overtake the US,” he said.
    Other social pressures include China’s pension shortfall as the aged population grows, and pressure on the medical system and elderly care. As a result of China’s now-scrapped one-child policy, which was first introduced in 1979 to artificially slow population growth, young people in China are now faced with caring for two parents and four grandparents, with no siblings to share the burden.
    The one-child policy has also exacerbated the ageing problem with a declining fertility rate. The government abandoned the policy in 2016 to allow couples to have two children, but so far the change has proven ineffective in boosting the birth rate.
    In January, the National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of births fell to 15.2 million in 2018 – or 1.6 children per woman – a drop of nearly 12 per cent nationally compared with the previous year, a number which is disputed by demographers like Yi.
    He claims the Chinese government has misrepresented the actual birth rate to gloss over the ramifications of the one-child policy. According to his own calculations, the actual fertility rate averaged 1.18 children per woman between 2010 and 2018, a lower level than Japan, suggesting China’s ageing problem could be more serious than its eastern neighbour’s.
    Huang Wenzheng, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based think tank, Centre for China and Globalisation, said the low fertility rate was China’s biggest challenge.
    “Of course, there are many things you can do to remedy an ageing population, but to solve it at the root, there need to be [more] newborns. It is ridiculous to talk about ageing when birth control has not been entirely scrapped,” he said.
    Huang, however, questioned how soon major policy changes would occur if the government had not yet fully recognised the gravity of the issue.
    Liang Zhongtang, a demographer from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said it would be difficult to resolve the challenges solely by relying on government edicts and planning, as critical services such as homes for the elderly and medical services, as well as new and innovative technologies, could only take off with the support of market forces.
    “Developed countries do not do these things because of government planning,” Liang said. “They rely on the market to resolve their ageing crises, and we are not doing enough in this regard.”
    That doesn't look like tai chi being practiced at 'one of Beijing’s luxury retirement communities'. That looks like qigong.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  7. #67
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    Mary Kawakami ar 106

    106-year-old in Salt Lake City still feisty, sharp in daily exercise routine

    At age 106, Mary Kawakami of Salt Lake City stays sharp and feisty with a daily exercise routine designed by her 75-year-old son.

    By ABC7.com staff
    Tuesday, December 10, 2019 4:24PM
    SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KABC) -- So what's your excuse?

    You may need to find a new reason to skip exercising after watching a feisty 106-year-old perform her workout routine with her 75-year-old son.

    Mary Kawakami is a workout diva, starting every day with a routine designed by her son Paul.

    He's helped her out for more than 20 years.

    They absolutely adore each other and their workout is like a comedy routine.

    "The reason why she lived so long is she's mean," Paul jokes.

    Mary embraces her centenarian status.

    "How old am I? 1-0-6. Will be 107 in two weeks. Basically I am old!" she says.

    And she's not slowing down. Her lungs are still strong and her heart rate is excellent.

    And Paul - who is a Tai Chi instructor - says his mom is the best. Whatever he comes up with she is willing to try.

    THREADS
    Give it up to the elderly!!!!!
    Taijiquan's health (or longevity) benefits overrated?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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