Chinese exercises also seemed to improve quality of life and reduce depression in patients with cardiovascular disease, they said.

"Our systematic review results showed that TCE (traditional Chinese exercises) should be useful for patients with CVD (cardiovascular disease)," the researchers wrote in their paper.

However, traditional Chinese exercises did not significantly improve participant's heart rate, aerobic fitness level or scores on a general health questionnaire.

The review only analyzed studies which randomly assigned participants to groups performing traditional Chinese exercises, most commonly Tai Chi, Qigong and Baduanjin, engaging in another form of exercise or making no change in activity level.

Next, Liu and his team planned to conduct new randomized controlled trials to confirm the effect of different types of traditional Chinese exercises on chronic diseases.