One’s ability to get a good night’s sleep can sometimes be considered a wishful “luxury”, especially for those of us who have had difficulty sleeping for a few consecutive nights in a row. Regularly not getting enough sleep will often leave us feeling irritable and unfocused, with limited energy to get through the day ahead. Given the true impact that sleep loss or deprivation has over time, we may even begin to feel our health decline in ways we are not fully aware of.
Let’s review the important elements involved and how Tai Chi can play a beneficial role.
Sleep is not just a passive or restful ‘downtime’. It is an active biological process that is essential for sound health. The physiological actions occurring during our sleep are vast. They include brain functions related to learning and memory, mood balance, stress tolerance, immune system regulation, and tissue repair. For most adults, the recommended target is 7-9 hours per night on a consistent basis.
What is ‘insomnia’?
Insomnia is a complex sleep disorder that is considered a major public health issue in today’s fast paced society. Global data shows that almost 30% of adults suffer from insomnia to varying degrees, with rates almost double in those aged 65 years and older, particularly in women. Elements that help define insomnia are the following: 1. Difficulty falling asleep 2. Difficulty staying asleep 3. Early awakenings.
Why is this important and how can Tai Chi help?
The health impact of consistently poor sleep is substantial. Those who suffer from chronic insomnia have been reported to have a significantly higher likelihood of depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, as well as other chronic diseases including diabetes, obesity, stroke and high blood pressure. Everyday safety (driving, for example) also becomes a factor when focus, attention and alertness are compromised due to a lack of sleep. In order to address these challenging issues, costly and often long-term management is required in the form of either pharmacological or psychological intervention by external health care providers.
Given the often-limited results with these approaches, conventional medicine has recently begun to search for alternative therapies and other methods that may help improve the quality of our sleep. That is where Tai Chi comes in.
What does the current research reveal in regards to sleep and Tai Chi?
We likely have all had the pleasant experience of having a deep, restful sleep following a session of Tai Chi. What is the hidden physiology behind this health benefit?
It is proposed that the practice of Tai Chi benefits sleep by a mixture of mechanisms. The first will not surprise us as we are already aware of the calming effect Tai Chi has on our nervous system. By promoting the activation of our parasympathetic nervous system, our overall stress response is reduced and we feel more relaxed 1. This is important, because higher levels of stress are often the source of ruminating thoughts, making it more difficult to fall asleep peacefully.
A recent meta-analysis of sleep studies examines the positive influence Tai Chi has on the HPA (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal) axis. Important stress chemicals are regulated via this important pathway 2. In a normal state, cortisol levels are higher in the morning, taper off during the day, and are lowest in the evening, preparing us for sleep. The practice of Tai Chi helps to support this natural decline. Chronic unaddressed stress, however, will interfere with the functioning of the HPA axis, and the natural reduction of cortisol throughout our day will not happen. With abnormally elevated evening cortisol levels, our ability to sleep will become compromised.
Several other noteworthy findings were reported in this analysis. Within it, it was well documented that the practice of Tai Chi not only improves our blood flow by increasing our body’s metabolism, but that neuroprotection occurs within our sleep nucleus centers of the brain. Further, since sleep disturbances are related to an augmentation of our inflammatory state, Tai Chi was found to improve our sleep by reducing the number of pro-inflammatory cells in our body 3.
A fascinating 2026 study from China has taken this exploration even further and discovered that Tai Chi may actually affect brain connectivity and architecture. Using EEG and other methods, this randomized-controlled study revealed that a 12-week program of Tai Chi (5x per week x 60 minutes) was successful in producing more slow-wave brain activity and better sleep spindle density; both core brain components of healthy sleep. This significant study demonstrated that Tai Chi not only benefits our sleep by providing the feeling of “relaxation”, but that much deeper, internal changes take place with sufficient and regular practice 4.
Given sleep disturbances are such a common occurrence in today’s world, the health benefit of improved sleep offered by regular Tai Chi practice seems increasingly undeniable. It is a simple, safe and enjoyable practice that is readily available to everyone without the need of costly travel or equipment. A great reason to either begin or remain dedicated to our daily practice!
Another hidden gift within the Art of Master Moy’s Tai Chi!
Translation by Jordi Awarita, Cathy Filion
- Tai Chi Health Benefit Themes: The Vagus Nerve and Parasympathetics- Guardians of our Internal State – Master Moy’s Tai Chi ↩︎
- Tai Chi Health Benefit Themes: Alignment, Balance, Cellular Renewal and Healthy Aging – Master Moy’s Tai Chi ↩︎
- Effects of Tai Chi on Sleep Quality as Well as Depression and Anxiety in Insomnia Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials – PMC ↩︎
- Frontiers | Global research dynamics in the Tai Chi and insomnia: a bibliometric study from 2006 to 2025 ↩︎