About this trial

This project investigates the impact of Daoist Zhanzhuang (sometimes spelled as Chan Chuang) on human flourishing, and explores the physiological, psychological, and spiritual mechanisms. This study will be a two-arm randomized controlled trial, with mixed-methods and repeated-measures assessment of outcome variables. The two arms will include an active control condition (i.e., sham wall squat) and the Daoist Zhanzhuang condition. Outcome variables will include physiological measures of heart rate variability and inflammatory biomarkers, psychological scales of human flourishing variables, phenomenological interviews of mystical experiences, and daily ecological momentary assessment of human flourishing and mysticism. Randomly assigned into two conditions, 120 participants will complete a three-week intensive practice phase with 9 in-person sessions, followed by a nine-week self-guided practice phase with 4 in-person check-in sessions, and 3 follow-up practice and assessment sessions. Complete assessment (physiological measures, psychological scales, and phenomenological interviews) will be administered at five time points: T1 at about two weeks before the intervention, T2 at the end of the three-week intensive practice, T3 at the end of the 3-month intervention, T4 at the 6-month follow-up, and T5 at the 12-month follow-up. In addition, daily ecological momentary assessment of flourishing variables and practice-induced experiences will be administered daily after the practice for the entire 3-month intervention period.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

young adults aged between 18 and 25 years old when they enroll;

be willing and available (e.g., intend to remain in Charlotte or the surrounding area or willing to travel to UNCC campus for in person visits) to participate to 12 month study;

able to stand for 30 minutes;

scoring above 18 on the Perceived Stress Scale (moderate stress); and

Disqualifiers

experience of qigong-related practice in the past 5 years;

reporting regular medication use that directly modulates immune system functioning (e.g., steroids, cytokine inhibitors, high levels of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, chemotherapy, etc.) or sedates the nervous system (e.g., benzodiazepines, anti-epileptics, tranquilizers, etc.) or alters heart rate (e.g., beta blockers, calcium channel blocker, stimulants, etc.);

self-reported illicit drug use in the past 3 months or substance dependence over the past month (e.g., alcohol binge drinking 2+ days/week, using tobacco or nicotine products 5+ days/week, cannabis and related products 2+ days/week, etc.);

physical impairment that does not allow them to stand for 30 mins (e.g., severe obesity, need wheel-chair or equipment to assist with walking, recent injury that limits standing, etc.), and

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

Daoist Zhanzhuang
Behavioral
Each session of practice will last 30 minutes, and participants are expected to participate every day for 3 months. During the initial 3 weeks, participants will engage in in-person sessions 3 times a week. On non-session days, they can choose to either attend a Zoom practice session with the coach or submit a recording of their individual practice for fidelity check. In Week 4, participants will attend an in-person session for both practice and assessment. Over the subsequent 8 weeks, participants will either attend in-person or Zoom sessions, with a total of 3 check-in sessions.
Sham Wall Squat
Behavioral
Same as the Zhanzhuang group.

Treatment groups

120 Participants

are divided into 2 treatment groups

Group A: Daoist ZhanzhuangExperimental treatment 1 intervention

Group B: Sham Wall SquatActive comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Increased heart rate variability

HRV will be collected using the H10 wear link and chest band (Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland) during several study activities, including 5 minutes of normal breathing at rest, a 5-minute paced-breathing task and during the 30-min intervention practice period. The normal and paced breathing assessments will occur at all data collection visits to estimate basal autonomic nervous system functioning.

Time frame

Day 1 in-person session, baseline T1 (before the intervention), the end of three-week intensive practice (T2), the end of the 3-month intervention (T3), the 6-month follow-up (T4), and the 12-month follow-up (T5).

2

Decreased inflammatory biomarker CRP

Saliva will be collected via approved methods (IBC BIO-23-0032). Salivary inflammatory biomarkers will be assessed in-house at the Biobehavioral Core Lab. Salivary C-reactive protein (sCRP) will be quantified using commercially available enzyme immunoassays according to manufacturer instructions. CRP is a protein produced by the liver in response to the cell mediated biomarker cytokines.

Time frame