Is exercising a short or long term benefit for people with PD?

[stlewy]

I am a PwP and believer in exercising and dieting to fight PD. When I jog/walk fast/sprint, my PD symptoms are reduced significantly, and even better if I eat a full meal right after exercising my PD symptoms are highly reduced to almost no symptoms at all. Is exercising supposed to be a short-term relief of symptoms or long-term? I'd like to hear people's experiences especially true consistent people who exercise.

[Rufous2]

"When I jog/walk fast/sprint, my PD symptoms are reduced significantly, and even better if I eat a full meal right after exercising my PD symptoms are highly reduced to almost no symptoms at all."

I think you've answered half your question right there! 😁 As for the long term benefits, a study done at Yale says YES! medicine.yale.edu/news-arti...

[stlewy in reply to Rufous2]

I was wondering if others were seeing short-term benefits.

[Rufous2 in reply to stlewy]

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood your question. 🙃

[Alock2020 in reply to Rufous2]

Does this mean that exercises which aren't high intensity/aerobic, like weight lifting, don't help?

[stlewy in reply to Alock2020]

I mix weight lifting with cardio. I think both are important especially as we age. My experience is that cardio seems to help with the symptoms more, but both help me.

[Rufous2 in reply to Alock2020]

No, resistance exercise is important too, vital for maintaining muscle mass. Also, one of the theories about how exercise benefits the brain is via muscle release of irisin, and lifting can contribute to that. Lots you can read about it online, but here's a start; sciencedirect.com/science/a....

"Irisin is a kind of muscle cytokine secreted by exercise-induced skeletal muscle, which is affected by factors such as exercise frequency, exercise mode, and exercise intensity."

"Acute exercise can increase the concentration of irisin in the blood immediately, whereas chronic exercise improves the metabolic kinetics and secretion efficiency of irisin. Resistance exercise and higher intensity exercise are also important for promoting effective irisin secretion." 

"In conclusion, the alleviation of motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients by exercise may be mediated by FNDC5/irisin, implying that irisin has a protective impact against the disease." 

I know there's only so much exercise one can do in a week. I think maybe that's why some look to circuit training or boot camp style workouts, where you can do a high intensity session that incorporates resistance work at the same time. A two birds sort of deal...

[jeeves19]

Both I’d have thought. 💭

[amykp]

Well, for some, if you exercise really hard, your symptoms actually get worse for a bit. But it's true for everyone--PD and not--do you remember, even before PD, after doing something really strenuous you'd walk stiffly and shake a bit?

My trainer pointed out something interesting: all the things made better BY exercise seem to made worse temporarily right after: your pulse, blood sugar and blood pressure go up, and you feel weak. These are all the things that ultimately improve!

[stlewy in reply to amykp]

That's a good point although my blood pressure and blood sugar drop when I jog (not with weight lifting). My symptoms (tremors) worsen during exercise. 10-15 minutes later after exercising, my symptoms become much calmer. One thing, some days when I get rigidly, that goes away within 5 or so minutes once I start jogging or speed walking.

[kaypeeoh]

There's an English dude--John Parker--on this web who claims his Parkinson's Disease has been in remission for 30+ years because of fast walking. Then there's a dude at Stanford--Dr H-- who claims exercise stimulates dopamine production. The central idea being that PD is a dopamine loss condition. Both individuals claim less PD signs or symptoms by following their methods.

When I'm on a treadmill if I slow down my feet start hitting the rear rollers. This tells me to speed up or I risk being tossed off the mill. And that's happened to me several times; I'm slow to believe shit. Meaning I'm slow to change behavior in the face of mounting reasons to do so. Now I'm careful to monitor my pace to ensure not getting tossed off the treadmill. IF I can't speed up I get off. My goal is keeping my pace just fast enough.

Dr H says BDNF is the brain chemical at the heart of dopamine production. Difficult exercise stimulates BDNF. I believe Mr Parker says the same thing.

[amykp in reply to kaypeeoh]

John Pepper, not Parker. He claims he was cured.

Anything that has only worked--so well--yet for only one person, EVER, imo is suspect.

As far as I understand, John's PD was diagnosed by one doctor over 30 years ago, never confirmed by any other, and never confirmed by any test like a DaT scan...

...which means, to me (since plenty of folks have tried all kinds of walking to no avail--I've known marathon runners who've progressed) the more likely explanation is that he never had parkinson's in the first place. It can be a confusing diagnosis in the beginning...it took two doctors and two DaT scans and a year to confirm mine.

That is NOT to say I don't believe exercise is critical--I do. I believe it does slow progression, maybe better than anything else we know about so far. But that's all kinds of exercise, not just walking. And it's not magic. It doesn't cure you. imo. Sadly.

I walk everyday and go to the gym four days a week. I eat a careful diet. I'm progressing very slowly, but I'm still progressing.

[JayPwP in reply to amykp]

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

[JayPwP in reply to amykp]

youtu.be/g9_XzhCO9KA?si=MVb...(Not working as expected?)

[JayPwP in reply to amykp]

The above responses are just to put the idea out there...

[stlewy]

Thanks, Amykp for the clarification. I agree with you. I've started a journal about 7 months ago exercising almost daily (generally 6 to 7 days a week). My PD is slowly progressing as I see my right hand now has some tremors that come and go (especially noticeable during crunches). I must say, my gait has improved, and I do not get as much stiffness (on my left arm) as I used too, and I feel more energetic than before. In that respect, there have been some positive gains in PD.

[LindaP50]

Keep your body and mind active and challenged every day.

Exercise of the body and brain (mind) - helps with mood, reduce stiffness, helps keep muscles relaxed and stretched, blood flowing, provides energy, improves balance, - see the link

apdaparkinson.org/article/w...

[stlewy]

LindaP50, thank you so much for that link. That well-written article is very plausible and quite encouraging. It explains the short-term and long-term benefits (which I did not have a good resource on long-term, now I do).

[amykp]

Yeah, walking definitely improves symptoms/has benefits...not debating that! So does fast biking and I do that two days a week. I also take a PD class (PWR?) that focuses on balance and stretching. I ALSO take a strength class, and occasional Qigong.

Id love to take rock steady boxing...nothing nearby.

ALL THESE THINGS have been shown to improve symptoms (along w/other things? Dance?). Nothing has been proven to cure it...yet

[Farooqji]

Over-exercising is counterproductive and should be avoided