Qigong improves depressive symptoms, hope and mental functioning in persons with insomnia and depressive disorders: A RCT

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbance is a very common complaint that results in emotional distress and poor health related quality of life (HRQoL). Qigong is an ancient Chinese self-healing exercise. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Qigong exercise on sleep, emotional distress, hope and HRQoL in people with insomnia and depressive disorder. METHODS: People with sleep complaints in the community were screened for depressive disorder by Chinese version Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). 157 participants who had CES-D ranged 10 – 34 without any bipolar and other psychotic diseases were randomly assigned to Qigong (n=81) and waitlist control (n=76). Intervention was eight 2.5-hour weekly Qigong lessons. Outcome measures including CES-D, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), adult trait hope scale and SF-12 for HRQoL were assessed at baseline (T0) and post-intervention (T1). Two groups at baseline were compared by independent t-test. Repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) controlling for CES-D and hope scores at baseline were conducted to examine interaction effects of group by time. RESULTS: All demographic characteristics were comparable between two groups (mean age = 55.5, SD=9.3). The majority of participants were female (n=122, 77.7%). At baseline, participants had severe sleep disturbance [14.0 (SD=2.9) and 12.8 (SD=3.4) for Qigong and control groups, respectively, p > .05], mild to moderate depression [22.9 (SD=6.3) and 20.1 (SD=6.4), respectively, p=.001] and poor HRQoL (PCS: 38.6 (SD=8.9) and 40.0 (SD=7.7), p>.05; MCS: 41.6 (SD=8.4) and 42.8 (SD=7.8, p>.05). It seemed that participants in Qigong group had more severe depression and less hope [49.0 (SD=11.0) and 53.4 (SD=11.8), p=.016] than control group. Controlling for CES-D and hope at baseline, repeated measure ANCOVA showed that Qigong group had significant improvements in PSQI score (F=9.2, p=.003), CES-Dscore (F=22.2, p < .001), hope (F=13.9, p < .001) and HRQoL (PCS: F=0.182, p=.671; MCS: F=8.1, p=.005) following Qigong intervention. CONCLUSION: This study showed that 8 sessions of Qigong exercise was an effective treatment for reducing sleep disturbance, emotional distress and improving hope and mental functioning in the people with insomnia and depressive disorders.