The influence of Baduanjin on sleep and depression and anxiety of college students with Qi-deficiency constitution: a randomized controlled trial

Introduction Qi-deficiency constitution is a common constitution among college students and has already affected their normal life and study. Baduanjin promotes the circulation of Qi and Blood, and replenishes vital energy, which is of great significance for improving the improving Qi deficiency constitution of college students. This study aims to explore the clinical effects of a 10-week practice of Baduanjin exercise on the sleep quality and emotional state of college students with Qi-deficiency constitution. Methods 37 college students with Qi-deficiency constitution and sleep quality problems were randomly divided into 18 cases in the control group and 19 cases in the training group. We compared the Qi-deficiency constitution conversion score, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) of the two groups before and after the intervention, and analyzed the correlation between the difference of the Qi-deficiency constitution conversion score and the difference of the total score of the PSQI as well as the clinical effectiveness of the two groups before and after the intervention. Results Before the intervention, the two groups were comparable in terms of Qi-deficiency constitution conversion score, PSQI, SAS and SDS ( P  > 0.05). After the intervention, there was no significant difference in Qi-deficiency constitution conversion score, PSQI, SAS and SDS in the control group ( P  > 0.05); the training group's Qi-deficiency constitution conversion score, PSQI, SAS and SDS were lower than that of the group before the intervention ( P  < 0.05) and lower than that of the control group during the same period ( P  < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between the difference between the Qi-deficiency constitution conversion score and the difference between the total PSQI score before and after the intervention in the training group ( P  = 0.013). After the intervention, the total effective rate of the training group was higher than the control group ( P  < 0.001). Conclusion Baduanjin can effectively improve the sleep quality, Qi-deficiency constitution and negative emotions of depression and anxiety in college students with Qi-deficiency constitution, and it is positively correlated with the improvement of Qi-deficiency constitution in terms of the degree of sleep improvement. Clinical Trial Registration: identifier ITMCTR2025000103.