The evaluation of physical stillness with wearable chest and arm accelerometer during Chan ding practice
Journal
Sensors (Switzerland)
Journal Volume
16
Journal Issue
7
Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
Abstract
Chan Ding training is beneficial to health and emotional wellbeing. More and more people have taken up this practice over the past few years. A major training method of Chan Ding is to focus on the ten Mailuns, i.e., energy points, and to maintain physical stillness. In this article, wireless wearable accelerometers were used to detect physical stillness, and the created physical stillness index (PSI) was also shown. Ninety college students participated in this study. Primarily, accelerometers used on the arms and chest were examined. The results showed that the PSI values on the arms were higher than that of the chest, when participants moved their bodies in three different ways, left-right, anterior-posterior, and hand, movements with natural breathing. Then, they were divided into three groups to practice Chan Ding for approximately thirty minutes. Participants without any Chan Ding experience were in Group I. Participants with one year of Chan Ding experience were in Group II, and participants with over three year of experience were in Group III. The Chinese Happiness Inventory (CHI) was also conducted. Results showed that the PSI of the three groups measured during 20-30 min were 0.123 ± 0.155, 0.012 ± 0.013, and 0.001 ± 0.0003, respectively (p < 0.001 ***). The averaged CHI scores of the three groups were 10.13, 17.17, and 25.53, respectively (p < 0.001 ***). Correlation coefficients between PSI and CHI of the three groups were -0.440, -0.369, and -0.537, respectively (p < 0.01 **). PSI value and the wearable accelerometer that are presently available on the market could be used to evaluate the quality of the physical stillness of the participants during Chan Ding practice. ? 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Chan ding; Chinese happiness inventory; Meditation; Physical stillness index (PSI); Wearable accelerometer
SDGs
Other Subjects
Accelerometers; Quality control; Students; Wearable technology; Anterior posteriors; Chan ding; Chinese happiness inventory; Correlation coefficient; Emotional wellbeing; Meditation; Natural breathing; Physical stillness index (PSI); Wearable sensors; accelerometry; ambulatory monitoring; arm; genetic procedures; human; mental health; procedures; thorax; Accelerometry; Arm; Biosensing Techniques; Humans; Mental Health; Monitoring, Ambulatory; Thorax
Type
journal article