You hear the words come out of your doctor’s mouth – You have Parkinson’s. You are instantly overwhelmed with questions, uncertainty and fear. Is there anything you can do to fight this? Your doctor might offer some tips or ideas, at least it’s a start. You may decide to do some research on your own and hopefully what that leads you to is this. One of the single best ways to combat the progression of this disease is exercise.
Intense, complex and consistent exercise. We have all heard that exercise is good for you, it helps any number of things in our bodies. What we have found, especially with Parkinson’s, is that exercising can actually work against the progression of the disease, help maintain muscle memory and keep you on your feet longer.
Parkinson’s is a lowering of the amount of dopamine that is produced in the brain. Think of dopamine as the gas in your tank. The part of your brain that is affected most deeply by Parkinson’s is your ‘auto-pilot’, you don’t have to think about movements like riding a bike, walking, standing up, etc. The movements we all take for granted on a daily basis. When our auto pilot is not working, this causes other parts of our brain to take over, the ‘conscious’ brain or cortex. This means you have to think about each movement instead of it happening naturally. This in turn affects everything else you do consciously, such as carry a conversation or holding a plate. We now have to multi task even when the tasks are as simple as walking and talking. Our brains are only able to multi task so many things. I know, your super brain is awesome at multi-tasking. You can multi-task 100 things at once and never miss a beat. Even with super brains, there is a limit to how much our brains can work on at once. At a certain point, something has to give and one of the tasks suffers. This may mean we have to stop talking or we lose our balance while walking.
Exercise can help immensely, especially when used the right way. It can be used to fight back against the disease and slow down it’s progression. It can also help us improve our balance and muscle memory, making it easier for us to continue multi-tasking, lowering the risk of falls. This is powerful stuff! We don’t have any medicines that can do this yet. However, it has to be used the right way, almost like medicine. This means intense, something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Complex means not the same movement every time, you are learning something new each time. Consistent means just that, regular exercise. Daily is best but as long as you are regular, you will feel the benefits.
We all want to stay healthy and feel good, for as long as possible. When you’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, this goal becomes even more important, even as the disease progresses.
With the fall season upon us, this is a perfect time to task one step closer to your best self. I challenge you to take one step towards exercising this week. It can be anything, get a list of classes, go for a walk with a friend, get your silver sneakers card. Do ONE thing today and then email me and tell me what step you took to fight back against Parkinson’s. You can do this and you are not alone.
Keep up the good work!
Be YOU, not Parkinson’s.
