A research team led by the School of Public Health at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), has discovered that tai chi, a traditional Chinese mind-body exercise, offers long-term benefits for chronic insomnia comparable to cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), the current first-line non-pharmacological treatment for chronic insomnia. The study supports the therapeutic use of tai chi as an accessible, culturally relevant, low-cost alternative for managing chronic insomnia among middle-aged and older adults. The findings were published in The BMJ.

The team led by Prof. Shao Li at Tsinghua University has long focused on the mechanisms and early prevention of inflammation–cancer transformation. Their earlier work defined a newly recognized stage—the “exceedingly-early” stage of gastric cancer—and identified its cellular features, biomarkers, and therapeutic targets, forming an intelligent and precise early-prevention framework.