Sweat, Repeat, Sweat to Avoid Dread of Parkinson’s

Start Exercising Decades Before Chances of Parkinson’s Increase

Any damage to our brain creates immense trouble for us and the people around us. Parkinson’s is one such disease which increasingly damages parts of the brain over the years. This leads to slow movement, involuntary body tremors and inflexible muscles. Such people also experience loss of smell, insomnia and memory problems, depression and anxiety. Even walking, talking and performing simple tasks becomes a strenuous activity.

Effective Yet Underused Solution
Earlier researchers assumed that high-intensity exercise might prove to be too stressful for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Recent research has tested the effectiveness of high-intensity exercise on patients with this disease. It has been proved beyond doubt that exercise is one of the most effective but least utilized treatment options to combat Parkinson’s disease.

The study included patients who were diagnosed at the initial stages of the disease and hence, not under any medication. This helps researchers confirm the results with exercise alone without the intrusion of any medications. In any disease early intervention is good and Parkinson is no exception. The study group who exercised three times a week for six months at 80-85% of maximum heart rate were able to delay worsening of symptoms for six months in comparison to a control group who did not exercise.

The group were fed with the fact that exercise was their medicine. There were no simple stretches but real, tough, high-intensity exercises along with monitored heart rates.
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Clinicians were asked to rate patients on a scale of 0 to 108 with the basic fact that higher the numbers, more severe is the symptom. All the participants were marked a score of 20 before the study. At the end of the study:

1. Participants subjected to high-intensity training stayed at 20.
2. Participants who performed moderate-intensity workouts worsened by 1.5 points.
3. Participants who did not exercise worsened by 3 points. The number ‘3’ might sound to be low, but 3 of 20 is almost 15% change in symptoms which is critical in the case of patients with this disease.

High-intensity Exercise is Mandatory to Reduce Risk of Parkinson’s

On the Workfront
Exercising well in advance, decades before your chances of developing the disease arise, in your 30s and 40s may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s by about 30%. Also, you need to start eating healthier and modify your lifestyle practices to minimize the risk of any disease during old age. For this, you can get in touch with registered dietitian nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com. Physical therapy has been implemented as a part of physical therapy in many patients but trying to perform exercises such as aerobics and cycling that gets to make your heart beat faster can have a protective effect on brain tissues.

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