1 . Tai chi, a traditional, slow-moving form of Chinese martial art, is known to increase flexibility and improve balance. Now, new research suggests it’s better than more energetic aerobic exercises (有氧运动) for lowering blood pressure in people with prehypertension (高血压前期). Prehypertension is considered a warning sign that heart disease may be ahead, and it raises the risk of having a heart attack.

The new findings, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, add to a large body of research pointing to health benefits from tai chi.

In the study, researchers in China randomly assigned 342 adults with prehypertension to one of two interventions. The average age of participants was 49. Roughly half the people participated in aerobic exercises, including jogging, climbing stairs, brisk walking and cycling. The other half was trained to practice tai chi. Both groups got hour-long sessions four times a week.

After 12 months, those in the tai chi group saw bigger drops in their blood pressure than those in the aerobic exercise group. What’s more, nearly 22% of the people who practiced tai chi saw their blood pressure fall to within normal range, compared with nearly 16% of people in the aerobic exercise group. And fewer patients in the tai chi group went on to develop hypertension than in the aerobic exercise group.

How does tai chi help lower blood pressure? The practice tends to cause more of a response from the parasympathetic nervous system (副交感神经系统), says Ruth Taylor-Piliae, a professor at the University of Arizona’s College of Nursing, who was not involved in the study. The parasympathetic nervous system is the network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger.

“I think the beauty of tai chi is that you don’t have to have a special gym membership or special clothing,” Taylor-Piliae says. “Once you learn tai chi, you can do it anytime, anyplace, anywhere. And it does kind of provide that calming, relaxing effect.”

3 . My fitness journey started when I couldn’t fit into my coats and weighed 176 pounds. This was my wake-up call. I was overweight, unhappy, and struggling to get back to health and happiness. I needed to be healthy again, so I decided to lose weight and regain control of my life.

I started working out and lost 40 pounds in two months. I was 33 with two kids. My journey started but I had much more to do. I ran marathons but grew bored of them, so I stepped up the challenge: and competed in triathlons (三项全能) for the next five years. I thought I discovered my passion. I’m a fierce competitor and enjoy racing even more. At 38, I was unable to compete and train at the level I desired. I was fearful of being lost and unhappy again.

As I was leaving the weights area one day, a girl asked if I competed in body building. I told her I didn’t and she said I should. This was the start of my new passion. I approached a bodybuilder at the gym and asked him about the sport and he convinced me to train for my first figure show.

I won every class I entered. I demanded a great deal from my body and aimed to improve before every competition, I maintained 10-11 percent body fat all year round. I have added 10 pounds: of muscle in the past four years.

Women over 40 needs to know that it’s possible to achieve our dreams. It’s about choices. Age isn’t a factor. If you want it, you have to work for it. If it were handed to you, it wouldn’t be sweet or unique.

I grew up playing sports. I played softball as a child and performed excellently on my high school field hockey teams. My husband, Kenny, was playing professional basketball overseas when we met and now he works in education and coaches youth and high school basketball.

Kenny and I weren’t surprised when our daughters, Kennedi and Kassadi, showed early athletic promise, Kennedi, our older daughter won a medal by age seven. Kassadi wasn’t far behind.     

I began to think we might have a future sports star on our hands, so I talked with Kenny about it and decided to make running a duty. We didn’t ask the girls if that’s what they wanted. Of course they did! Who wouldn’t want to use a God-given gift, to the fullest? Slowly but surely, running took over our lives. By the time Kennedi started middle school, our family life was full of all kinds of trains and race. And I also became stricter with them.   

"Faster! Move those legs!" I’d shout at Kennedi if she started falling behind. If the girls lost in a game, the car ride home was no fun..."Where was the effort on that last lap, Kassadi?" I’d demand." Kennedi, you were faster in practice last week. What happened?"

I had visions of college scholarships, maybe even the Olympics I did not imagine sitting in a doctor’s office almost now, staring at the medical equipment.

“Immediate surgery(手术)might be necessary, ” the doctor said," I’ve almost never seen this kind of injury in a child. And recovery can take a long time. She might not come back to racing."

The doctor kept talking, but I had a hard time following the words. Why did it happen to my child?

My feelings were mixed.

"Yes! You are indeed too demanding," Kennedi said.

5 . Nenad Bach, an American composer and singer who lives with Parkinson’s disease (帕金森病) is the founder of “Ping-pong Parkinson”, a movement that promotes ping-pong as a therapy (疗法) to improve the lives of Parkinson’s patients worldwide.

After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2010, Bach found that his tremors (颤抖) and other symptoms were keeping him from playing his guitar. But a friend introduced him to ping-pong, also known as table tennis, and he soon found that both his motor skills and his mood seemed to improve when he played. Bach’s doctor confirmed his improved state. And that’s when the idea for “Ping-pong Parkinson” took root.

In 2017, Bach worked with well-known New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz. Shortz also happens to be the owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Center. In October of 2019, the first Parkinson’s World Table Tennis Championship was held at the Center, attracting people with Parkinson’s disease from as far away as Sweden, Japan, Brazil, Croatia, England, and China.

Recently, a small study was conducted by scientists at Fukuoka University in Japan. People with Parkinson’s disease participated in a table tennis exercise program once a week for six months. Participants experienced significant improvements in facial expression, posture rigidity, speed of movement and hand tremors. They also experienced improvements in speech, handwriting, getting dressed, getting out of bed and walking.

Dr. Ken-ichi Inoue, the study’s author, comments, “While this study was small, with twelve participants, the results are encouraging because they show ping-pong, a relatively inexpensive form of therapy, may improve some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.” Dr. Inoue is planning a much larger study to confirm his findings.

8 . Seventy-eight-year-old Nora Langdon spends multiple days a week at the gym, training for lifting competitions three hours at a time. Now, she has become a(n) ________ to people of all ages.

At the age of 65, Langdon was ________ to live a healthier lifestyle. In 2007, she weighed over 210 pounds and often ________ to catch her breath while going up the stairs. She knew it was time for a ________.

After joining the gym and watching her trainer prepare for a powerlifting meet, she ________ the competition and decided to ________ it herself. She began with the basics— using a broom (扫帚) as a barbell before ________ moving to weights. It wasn’t long before she discovered lifting was her ________.

Although Langdon has won 20 of her powerlifting meets and has state, national and world records under her belt, she shows no signs of ________ anytime soon. Her next ________? To powerlift a total of over a thousand pounds.

“She’s really been a ________ to the gym, and to me, and to the whole powerlifting field,” her trainer said. “To see somebody at that age doing what she’s doing is ________.”

She wants others to know that with motivation and strong faith, anyone of her age can get into ________. She said, “Your body was made to ________ and you have to keep it moving in order to stay ________.