Benefits of a 10-minute daily Health Qigong for elementary school students: A pilot study

Problem: Children in elementary schools are under more academic stress than ever. They face more challenging curricula, longer school hours, and more frequent tests than a decade ago. School community, including teachers, makes efforts to help elementary school students overcome this elevated stress, but often lacks knowledge and skills to do this appropriately.

Method: A 10-minute daily Health Qigong program led by a school teacher was developed and implemented for two months in a classroom setting. A focus group, interviews with 30 fourth graders, and observation were conducted to investigate the potential benefits of this 10-minute Health Qigong program. Post-Qigong effects were evaluated during a Writing Workshop.

Results: Most school children reported that they felt relaxed, quiet, happy, and good about themselves. The school teacher found students to be calmer and more focused after participating in the brief Health Qigong program.

Conclusion and Implication: This pilot study indicates that a 10-minute daily Health Qigong program helps invigorate and relax the children in a classroom setting. It can also help break up the daily, state-mandated, 90-minute reading blocks. A brief Health Qigong may serve as a stress reduction technique for children.