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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Jan 31;20(3):2537.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032537.

Mindfulness Practice versus Physical Exercise in Enhancing Vitality

Wei Yan  1   2 , Zhongxin Jiang  3 , Peng Zhang  1 , Guanmin Liu  4 , Kaiping Peng  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Mindfulness Practice versus Physical Exercise in Enhancing Vitality

Wei Yan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Vitality is important for subjective well-being and performance, which makes strategies for its enhancement an important research issue. While prior research showed that mindfulness practice and physical exercise are both effective at enhancing vitality, no study has compared their efficacy. This study aimed to address this issue. Seventy-one Chinese adults participated in the study and were randomized to one of the intervention groups, i.e., mindfulness practice or physical exercise. The mindfulness practice group completed guided mindfulness trainings, while the physical exercise group completed self-chosen aerobic trainings for seven days. The levels of vitality and its four factors at three time points (baseline, post-intervention, 7-day follow-up) were measured and compared. Compared with physical exercise, mindfulness practice showed stronger effects in enhancing vitality and maintaining the improvements. The findings suggest that guided mindfulness practice is more effective than self-chosen aerobic physical exercise at enhancing vitality and maintaining its improvements.

Keywords: energy; mindfulness; physical exercise; vitality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Levels of vitality (total score) in the mindfulness practice and the physical exercise groups at three time points. (B) Changes in vitality (total score) across different time points (from T1 to T2, from T2 to T3, and from T1 to T3) in the mindfulness practice and the physical exercise groups. *** p < 0.001; * p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Levels of factors of vitality, i.e., (A) energy, (B) tenacity, (C) serenity, and (D) acuteness, for the mindfulness practice group and the physical exercise group at three time points.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Changes in factors of vitality, i.e., (A) energy, (B) tenacity, (C) serenity, and (D) acuteness, across different time points (from T1 to T2, from T2 to T3, and from T1 to T3) in the mindfulness practice group and the physical exercise group. *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05; ns, not significant.
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