WEDNESDAY, Dec. 3, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Tai chi is an effective alternative approach for the long-term management of chronic insomnia in middle-aged and older adults, according to a study published online Nov. 26 in The BMJ.
Parco M. Siu, from the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues assessed whether tai chi is noninferior to cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), the first-line treatment for managing chronic insomnia, among 200 middle-aged and older adults (50 years and older) randomly assigned to either group for three months and followed for an additional 12 months (100 participants in each group).
The researchers found that at month 3, the tai chi group had a reduction of 6.67 in Insomnia Severity Index scores, while the CBT-I group had a reduction of 11.19, resulting in a between-group difference of 4.52. The upper confidence limit exceeded the noninferiority margin, so tai chi was deemed inferior to CBT-I at month 3. At month 15, the reductions for tai chi and CBT-I were 9.51 and 10.18, respectively, yielding a between-group difference of 0.68. However, at month 15, tai chi was considered noninferior to CBT-I because the upper confidence limit fell within the noninferiority margin. There were no adverse events reported during the intervention period. The two groups had comparable benefits on subjective sleep parameters, quality of life, mental health, and physical activity level.
"Our study supports tai chi as an alternative treatment approach for the long-term management of chronic insomnia in middle-aged and older adults," the authors write.