The other night I ate way too much and after getting maybe an hour or so sleep, I woke up feeling very uncomfortable and unable to go back to sleep. I had an early start (6am) and a busy schedule the next day.  So after the usual procrastination - lying awake for a period of time - I started practicing Taiji in a very non-committed manner and gradually eased myself into more in-depth practice. Even though I might have only gotten four hours of sleep in total, when I woke up I felt energized, fully awake and clear-headed. I know from experience that if I hadn't practiced I would've felt tired, muddy in the head, be dragging my body and irritable throughout much of the day. All it takes is some willpower to get in some quality practice to counteract the lack of sleep. In the late afternoon there is a slight "crash" but in my regular experience the beneficial effects of practicing Taiji to negate the effects of sleep deprivation is undeniable and very reliable.  

I recently conducted a Tai Chi workshop at the Helensvale library and all the participants got to do some simple exercises for around twenty-five to thirty minutes. I have read reports from some studies that Tai Chi can ease pain - I think the article was talking about arthritic pain -  but have never experienced that kind of feedback from my students before. However, at the end of the session everyone as usual reported warm feelings of relaxation and well-being but one lady happily exclaimed that when she came to the workshop she was experiencing pain in her hip and by the end of it her pain was gone! I found this very satisfying.  

I had the youngest student in my experience to try one of my Tai Chi classes recently - he was nine. I don't know how typical he was for a boy of that age because he had already been practicing 3 years of ju-jitsu and a year of judo; but he handled most of the class. Up till then I'd always thought that the attention-spans of kids of that age would be too short for Tai Chi but I was mistaken. A couple of times he had to stop  because of the fatigue in his thighs (which is no different from most adults) but other than that he was most impressive.