The Effect of Tai Chi Chuan Exercises on Happiness, Sleep Quality and Blood Pressure of Elderly Women

Introduction: In recently years the elderly population has great grown and aging is one of the sensitive periods in life which the health of individuals in that is reduced. Also, sport exercises have an important role in the prevention and management of diseases of this period. For this purpose, the aim of this study was determine the effect of Tai Chi Chuan exercises on happiness, sleep quality and blood pressure in elderly women. Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental from type of pre-test and post-test with control group. The research population was elderly women who members of the Education retirees association of Varamin county in 2018 year. The research sample was 60 people that selected by purposive sampling and assigned randomly to two experimental and control groups (each group 30 people). The experimental group trained Tai Chi Chuan exercises 24 sessions of 45 minutes (weekly three sessions) and the control group placed in the waiting list. The data collected by the questionnaires of happiness and sleep quality and blood pressure measured by scorpion barometer and analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance method with the SPSS software version twenty one. Results: There was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the happiness, sleep quality and blood pressure. In the other words, the Tai Chi Chuan exercises led to increase happiness (F=212/94) and decrease undesirable sleep quality (F=93/17) and systolic blood pressure (F=41/25) of elderly women (P<0/001). Conclusions: The results showed that the Tai Chi Chuan exercises led to increase happiness and decrease undesirable sleep quality and blood pressure of elderly women. Therefore, it is recommended that from the mentioned method as a one of the safe and affordable methods of complementary medicine used to improve the health of the elderly.