The practice of tai chi may help improve the health of people with chronic heart failure. People with chronic heart failure were seen to experience better sleep and better breathing during sleep after spending 12 weeks on the practice of tai chi. This deals in a significant way with the usual problems of insomnia and poor breathing during sleep that so often accompanies chronic heart failure.
"Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston analyzed sleep in 18 patients with chronic heart failure. All patients were on maximal medical therapy. The patients were assigned into one of two groups: a usual care group (the control) that received medication and diet/exercise counseling, or a tai chi group that received usual care plus 12 weeks of tai chi training."
The group who were following the practice of tai chi improved more than the other group in regards to their sleep. The tai chi group also experienced greater quality of life improvement than people in the other group.
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/072508.htm?nav=rss