This study aimed to explore the intervention effect of Tai Chi exercise on internet addiction in college students and its maintenance effect after cessation, providing a scientific basis for the application of Tai Chi in internet addiction intervention among college students. Fifty-one non-sports-major college students with mild or moderate internet addiction were randomly divided into a Tai Chi group (n = 23) and a control group (n = 24). The Tai Chi group underwent 12 weeks of Tai Chi exercise, while the control group maintained their regular study schedule without additional physical exercise. The Chinese Internet Addiction Scale and serum dopamine and β-Endorphin levels were assessed at baseline, week 12, and week 16.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
51
The Tai chi group practiced 24-form simplified Tai Chi for 12 weeks, 3 times/week, 60 minutes/session (including 5-minute warm-up and 5-minute cool-down) at our university's track, under professional coaching, from 8:00-9:10 AM. The first 4 weeks were for learning, and the next 8 for consolidation.
Internet Addiction Scale Survey
The CIAS, tailored to Chinese college students' psychological traits, was used. It has 26 items across five dimensions: compulsive symptoms, withdrawal symptoms, tolerance symptoms, interpersonal and health problems, and time management problems. It's a 4-point self-report Likert scale (1="extremely disagree" to 4="extremely agree"). The scale has good reliability and validity, with factor consistency coefficients of 0.70-0.82 and internal consistency of 0.9446\[21\]. The total CIAS score is the sum of all items, with higher scores indicating greater dependence and addiction risk. The CIAS was administered at baseline, week 12, and week 16 for both groups.
Time frame: 16 weeks
Serum Dopamine
At baseline, week 12, and week 16, 2 ml of fasting venous blood was collected from participants between 7:00-8:00 AM. Serum dopamine levels was measured using radioimmunoassay on a Beckman DXC800 autoanalyzer, with reagents from IBL (Germany). All steps followed the kit instructions, and absorbance was measured at 450 nm to calculate concentrations.
Time frame: 16 weeks
Serum β-Endorphin
At baseline, week 12, and week 16, 2 ml of fasting venous blood was collected from participants between 7:00-8:00 AM. Serum β-Endorphin levels was measured using radioimmunoassay on a Beckman DXC800 autoanalyzer, with reagents from IBL (Germany). All steps followed the kit instructions, and absorbance was measured at 450 nm to calculate concentrations.
Time frame: 16 weeks
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