As if one really needed another reason to exercise!
There is evidence that exercise can decrease everyone’s general risk for Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and improve symptoms of those already dealing with it.
Parksinson’s Disease is a usually later onset (60 years +) neurodegenerative process that decreases the number of dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra (SN) area of the brain, involved in eye movement, motor planning and reward-seeking activities. Symptoms vary, but can include gait and balance issues, tremors, slowness and stiffness, and some cognitive effects, among other effects.
Wow, sounds a lot like what our society expects “aging” to look like, doesn’t it?
But what if that doesn’t have to be the expectation? There is research that indicates exercise, in fact rather rigorous exercise, can prevent PD onset or even reverse symptoms in PD sufferers. What does rigorous exercise look like? You have to move, and probably faster than your default.
The research indicates that aerobic exercise 3X a week for 30 - 40 minutes at a rate of 70-85% of your maximum heart rate in beats per minute/bpm (220 - your age), or perceived exertion of 14-17 out of 20 (Borg scale on this chart). You have to pay attention to how you are feeling and breathing. Also, it’s not a sprint (that would be 18 or more out of 20). You have to be able to sustain your exertion for 30+ minutes, it’s aerobic exercise, not anaerobic.
Let’s figure out how to manage this.
If one (OK, me) is 52, then my maximum heart rate (MHR) is 220 - 52 = 168bpm. 70 - 85% of my MHR is 117 - 142 bpm. That’s fine if I’m wearing a heart rate monitor or device, or working out on an exercise machine with electrode-handles. If I don’t have an electronic means of measuring, I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way of taking my heart rate (pulse at neck or wrist) while exercising for 10 seconds and then multiply by 6. I’ll then see if that ballpark number falls between 117 and 142. A bit cumbersome, but doable until I obtain a sense of what 70 - 85% actually feels like. Another way is to use Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE). The newer modified RPE scale of 20 (“the Borg scale”) allows more precision than the older scale of 10. Feeling or perceiving that like I’m exercising at ‘14 - 17 out of 20’ RPE will correlate to 70 - 85% of my MHR.
It might be a bit unnerving to find out what 70 - 85% actually feels like in your body, and that perhaps you must shift a bit faster to decrease risk factors for Parkinson’s Disease.
Anyway, the upshot - no surprise; MOVE! Move briskly, three times a week for half an hour minimum so your body temperature increases and you are sweating. You should be working hard enough so you are huffing and puffing, and a conversation would be a bit difficult. Use hills and stairs to boost your exertion if you are heading outside. Make a happy music playlist that motivates you to skip and jump and move faster. Take a class that motivates you and gets your heart pumping to 70-85% of you MHR. Huff and puff happily with your classmates.
Challenge yourself with appropriate aerobic intensity, and decrease your risk for not only PD, but pretty much everything else (heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, obesity…) you’ll boost your aerobic capacity and also increase capacity for a healthy and happy lifespan.
