Meditation and exercise are good for you: both practices improve flexibility, reduce stress and keep you in shape. As it turns out, these habits may help strengthen your immune system as well. A recent study of elderly adults who practiced Tai Chi finds the martial art increased immunity to shingles, a painful rash related to chicken pox.

Chickenpox attacks are caused by the varicella zoster virus. Children who get the disease generally recover quickly, but the body doesn't completely get rid of the virus—it remains dormant in the nerve tissue of the body. With age, the weakening immune system may allow the virus to re-emerge as shingles: a painful rash that causes pain lasting for months of years.

To find out if the virus might be held in check through a regular program of meditative exercise, Michael Irwin a professor at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute conducted a comparative study. He asked half of a group of 36 elderly adults to follow a 15-week program of Tai Chi Chih, a westernized version of the 3,000-year-old martial art Tai Chi Chuan. A week after the program was complete, Irwin measured the subjects' immune response to the shingles virus. As compared to the group who hadn't been exercising, this half of the study showed an average 50 percent increase in the immune cells. This helps control shingles and other diseases as well.

The Tai Chi students' overall health improved. Adults who suffered from physical impairments, such as a limp, showed the greatest improvement.

Although the study focused only on the shingles virus, Irwin expects similar results for other diseases. "I would expect to see changes across a whole host of responses for a whole host of various viral infections," he says.

Tai Chi Chih is a standardized series of 20 movements developed for older adults. It combines meditation, relaxation and components of aerobic exercise. It is easy to learn, and can be taught from a manual.

The report appeared in the September issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. Irwin plans a follow-up study to examine the duration of the increased immune response, and to investigate how Tai Chi actually improves health.

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