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One of the most effective treatments for Parkinson’s disease is exercise. People frequently inquire about the “best” Parkinson’s exercise program. Most experts agree that the most effective strategy is a secure, delightful routine that helps you manage your particular symptoms, and that you truly enjoy doing.
Parkinson’s Disease and Exercise
Research has consistently shown that exercise can be a universally beneficial method to boost mood and enhance general health. Studies have associated exercise with a lower incidence of Parkinson’s disease and a slower progression. Exercise improves the condition of the heart, lungs, and muscles; speeds up metabolism; prevents diabetes; and lessens disabilities. Numerous physical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be slowed down by exercise, and recent studies suggest that exercise may even have neuroprotective effects, which would reduce the disease’s progression in the brain.
Exercise is especially beneficial for balance and constipation. It also increases your strength, promotes better brain health, and minimizes many other symptoms.
Staying Connected
Parkinson’s disease can lead to isolation. Exercise is frequently done in groups or with friends and family, making it a social activity. Participating in community activities reduces stress and alleviates symptoms.
Types of Fitness Routines
Different techniques improve mobility and functional capacity. These routines differ based on various components of physical training. Exercise programs for people with PD include:
- Intensive athletic training (such as Rock Steady Boxing, a non-contact boxing class)
- Treadmill workouts using body weight as resistance
- Strength exercises
- Aerobic activity
- Different schools of exercise (yoga, tai chi, ping pong)
- Virtual exercise (practicing what you find on many YouTube videos)
- Stretching
There isn’t a universal “exercise prescription” for everyone with PD. Your symptoms and difficulties will affect the type of activity you do. It’s beneficial to start with minimal routines, like walking, for people who might be more sedentary. These can be expanded to more frequent, intense physical activity.
Fitness Advice
- Consistent workout is the key to obtaining the benefits. Regardless of exercise intensity, people with Parkinson’s disease who participated in exercise programs lasting longer than six months significantly improved their functional balance and mobility compared to those who participated in two- or ten-week programs.
- More intensity during exercise may result in greater benefits. Experts suggest individuals with PD, especially those with young-onset or early-stage disease, engage in intense activity frequently and for as long as necessary. You gain more if you work harder.
- Exercise that increases your heart rate and causes you to breathe heavily is considered intense exercise. Although studies have mainly examined cycling and running, experts believe other strenuous activities, such as swimming long distances, should have a similar positive effect.
- You should always warm up, stretch, and cool down, whatever your health.
- Exercise in a way that is secure for you. Understand your limitations.
- You can find activities that are safe for people with Parkinson’s disease through a variety of support groups, therapists, and fitness programs.
Exercise’s Neuroprotective Advantages
Your brain engages in neuroprotection when you exercise by keeping neurons, or brain cells, alive. Exercise is essential for preserving balance, mobility, and self-regulation skills in people with Parkinson’s disease. It may also have a neuroprotective effect.
Can the Brain Change?
Parkinson’s disease destroys dopamine-producing neurons. There is a gap between the beginning of neuronal death and the onset of PD movement symptoms. Nearly 80% of dopamine neurons have already died by the time most patients receive a diagnosis.
The brain changes during this time to compensate for the dopamine neurons lost from neurodegeneration. “Exercise-dependent neuroplasticity” is the term scientists use to describe this capacity to adapt and change.
By promoting this compensation or flexibility, exercise may impact the brain. Regular exercise improves the range of motion in those with Parkinson’s disease. We think that physical activity may support neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to preserve old connections while forming new ones and replacing ones that have been lost. This might be more significant than neurodegeneration’s effects.
Get Moving While Doing What You Enjoy
The best form of physical activity varies for each person, just like Parkinson’s disease. But pushing yourself is always the best way to exercise.
You should exercise regularly no matter what you do to stay active. And you’re more likely to continue engaging in physical activity if you love it. Find something that gives you a positive feeling, then do it regularly.
– by Guest Author Elizabeth Long
