{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T15:31:40Z","timestamp":1768404700201,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,19]],"date-time":"2023-01-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1674086400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Healthcare"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The recent COVID-19 pandemic has increased students\u2019 stress as they may feel under increased pressure to have a good performance and compensate for the disruption to their education. Improving attention levels and learning capacity may assist in ameliorating academic performance. Qigong is a traditional Chinese medicine technique that appears to have positive effects on the management of mental health and may provide tools for coping with stressful situations. This paper explores data obtained while conducting a previous study and includes an excess of data from a total of 44 participants who were previously divided into an experimental Qigong group and a sham Qigong control group. The improvements in specific auditory processing and reaction times may indicate benefits in attention and learning capacity. These improvements were more pronounced in the experimental Qigong group compared to the sham Qigong group. Qigong may be able to assist in improving students\u2019 academic performance and can be easily integrated into physical education classes. It could also assist students to cope with the increased academic pressure resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic context.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare11030307","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,19]],"date-time":"2023-01-19T07:57:38Z","timestamp":1674115058000},"page":"307","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Can Qigong Be a Tool to Assist Students in Handling COVID-19\u2019s Resulting Academic Stress?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"M\u00e1rio","family":"Gon\u00e7alves","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS-UP\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSin\u2014Center of BioSciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"HSCM\u2014Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany"}]},{"given":"Leonel","family":"Duarte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS-UP\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5892-1855","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge Magalh\u00e3es","family":"Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS-UP\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSin\u2014Center of BioSciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"IPTC\u2014Research Department in Complementary Medicine of the Portuguese Institute of Taiji and Qigong, 4470-765 Maia, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Henry Johannes","family":"Greten","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS-UP\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"HSCM\u2014Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4570-5445","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Machado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS-UP\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSin\u2014Center of BioSciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"LABIOMEP\u2014Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Strong, T., and Sesma-Vazquez, M. 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