According to some records,Tai Chi dates back as far as 2,500 years.It’s a practice that involves a series of slow gentle physical movements,and    1    (control)breathing.It originated as     2    ancient martial art(武术)in China.Over the years,it    3    (become)more focused on health promotion and restoration. It may be     4     (benefit)in improving balance and preventing falls in older adults and people with Parkinson’s disease. A study    5    (carry) out in 2021 to evaluate a10-week Tai Chi intervention in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic as a possible way to help improve their mental and physical health. The 30 participants were between the ages of 60 and 78 and hadn’t previously practiced Tai Chi.    6    the results suggested,Tai Chi could possibly help people cope with COVID-19 and the negative effect in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.The authors explained that Tai Chi can be practiced    7    (easy) at home or in groups,    8     (make)it useful during pandemic conditions.This    9    (suggest)was not based on studies of Tai Chi during the COVID-19 pandemic but instead    10    past research about the general effects of Tai Chi.The authors said that future research is needed to determine the effectiveness of Tai Chi during the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide more valid and reliable data.

4 . Are you sitting more than ever?     1     You’re probably sitting while reading this. Sometimes you sit when you are driving or attending a meeting. Other times you sit when you engage yourself in watching a movie or playing computer games. That’s undoubtedly a lot of sitting. The fact is, the amount of time spent sitting has increased over time.     2    

We know sitting too much is bad, and most of us naturally feel a little guilty after a long-time TV watching.     3     A study on nearly 8,000 adults suggests that there’s a direct relationship between the time spent sitting and our risk of early death of any cause. As the total sitting time increases, so does the risk of early death.

“Sit less, move more” is what the Heart Association encourages us to do.     4     It is like telling someone to just ”exercise“ without telling them how. Exercise guidelines are always more practical. For example, the Center for Disease Control recommends adults do exercise for two hours and 30 minutes every week, plus muscle strengthening activities two or more days a week. We need similar guidelines for sitting.

    5     “It would probably be like, for every 30 continuous minutes of sitting, stand up and move or walk for five minutes at a quick pace,” Diaz, the lead researcher said, adding that the study has put us a step closer to the satisfying guidelines. But more researches are needed to confirm their approach.

5 . You’ve probably heard that you need to move more throughout the day, and as a general rule of thumb, “more” is often defined as around 10,000 steps. Many people use the 10,000-step rule as their marker for healthy living. As more people track their steps by fitness-tracking wearable or their iPhones, more of them do that.

But while sitting less is a great idea, the step rule isn’t as black and white as one number.

Dr. Creg Hager, professor at Johns Hopkins, decided to take a closer look at whether the step rule is accurate, and he found asking everyone to shoot for 10,000 steps each day could be harmful to the elderly, or the level of exercise could make it unwise for those with medical conditions. He also noted that those with shorter legs have an easier time hitting the 10,000-step goal because they have to take more steps than loge-egged people to cover the distance.

How many steps can help keep healthy and promote longevity (长寿) on earth?

Researchers found that women taking 4,400 steps per day were about 40% less likely to die during a follow-up period of just over four years, compared to those who took 2,700 steps. Women in the study who walked more than 7,500 steps each day got no extra in longevity. The bottom line is that 10,000 steps may be too many for some and too few for others. Some of that has to do with age but nothing to do with health and longevity. The study included nearly 17,000 women with an average age of 72.

The point of these studies isn’t to say we should abandon step goals and fitness trackers altogether. The key is finding the step goal that matches your individual health according to your doctor or fitness instructor, and then using your fitness tracker and other proper methods to help achieve those goals.

Exercise might seem like a chore sometimes,     1    (particular) when we get told so often that we should exercise more. But we need to get up and start moving. Many of us spend too much time     2     (stare) at screens. Most teen girls don't meet the standards for physical activity. Getting     3     (scold) about this, though, doesn't really help. And that's too bad, because exercise can be both fun and good for the body and the brain.

Exercise is not only good for your muscles,     4     good for your bones. Getting exercise     5     (help) teens build tough bodies. And teens who exercise more often grow up into adults with much     6     (strong) bones.

Exercise can increase how much oxygen and blood gets to the brain, and even how the brain is structured. Working     7     can produce chemicals in our bodies that might help prevent depression. And a workout after learning something can help us form and keep a great number of     8    (memory).

So maybe it's no surprise     9     so many scientists study exercise. There are some scientists, for instance, who study what makes winning runners so fast.     10    (other) study running lizards and astronauts in space to find out how to keep humans healthy both on and off planet Earth.