The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of three kinds of short-time qigong exercises (TANTOUKOU, HACHIDANKIN and SUWAISHOU) on the human body. Skin conductivities related to meridian autonomous nervous excitation, grip strength and heart rate were measured before and after each performance of the exercises. Our findings were as follows: 1. The electrical currents, which correspond to the skin conductivities, were greater within the normal range 40-80μA and were adjusted to recover balance after TANTOUKOU and HACHIDANKIN than before. 2. TANTOUKOU and HACHIDANKIN induced increase in sympathetic nerve activity, and SUWAISHOU suppressed SNA. 3. The grip strength of a subject with qigong experience was significantly greater after SUWAISHOU and HACHIDANKIN than before, but did not show any change after TANTOUKOU. The grip strengths of inexperienced subjects were not influenced significantly by the performance of SUWAISHOU. 4. The effects of a 15 minutes performance of each of the three kinds of qigong exercises remained for approximately 30 minutes, and those of a 45 minutes consecutive performance of them all remained for more than 45 minutes. 5. The above results imply that for experienced people a fifteen-minute perfomance per day of any one of the exercises improves the balance of the autonomic nervous system which is essential to the maintenance or promotion of health, but that inexperienced people need to be skilled to a certain degree before expecting a good effect.
