2.5 hours of exercise every week may help with mobility in people with Parkinson’s

Patients with Parkinson’s disease may be benefited by 2.5 hours of exercise every week, according to a new study. The American study suggests that exercising for at least 2.5 hours weekly may help Parkinson’s patients maintain physical health and quality of life.

Parkinson’s is a progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system that mainly affects movement. The condition causes tremors, stiffness of the trunk and limbs, lack of balance and coordination, and mobility deterioration.

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About one million Americans are thought to have Parkinson's, and about 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with the condition each year. Most patients are aged over 50 but younger people can be affected as well.



Past studies have suggested that exercise may benefit patients with Parkinson's. One study found that patients with early Parkinson's who exercised 40 to 60 minutes three times a week experienced improved mobility and balance over 6 months, resulting in a reduction in falls.

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For this study, lead researcher Miriam R. Rafferty, Ph.D., of the Center for Education in Health Sciences at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and colleagues sought to determine how regular exercise might help health-related quality of life (HRQL), and mobility for Parkinson’s patients over a 2-year period.

They analyzed more than 3,400 patients with Parkinson’s disease. The participants were a part of the National Parkinson Foundation Quality Improvement Initiative (NPF-QII), which gathers data on clinical care and outcomes for Parkinson's patients at 21 places in North America, the Netherlands, and Israel.



Over 2 years, the participants visited the clinic at least three times. During these visits, researchers collected data on the patients’ exercise duration each week, and their functional mobility and HRQL.

The team used Timed Up and Go (TUG) test to assess the participants’ mobility. During the test patients were required to stand up from a seated position, walk about 3 meters, turn around, and then sit back down. Patients self-reported HRQL through The Parkinson Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39).

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The researchers found that those who took part in a minimum of 2.5 hours of physical exercise a week experienced much slower declines in HRQL and mobility over 2 years, compared with patients who exercised less than 2.5 hours weekly.

"The most important part of the study is that it suggests that people who are not currently achieving recommended levels of exercise could start to exercise today to lessen the declines in quality of life and mobility that can occur with this progressive disease," says Rafferty.



The team also found that patients in the advanced stages of Parkinson's saw an improvement in both HRQL and mobility by increasing their physical activity by 30 minutes each week.

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The team says their findings have far-reaching implications for making Parkinson’s patients more physically active. They note that such patients may experience more severe impairments in their mobility, making participation in current exercise programs challenging.



The study was not intended to pinpoint what types of exercise are best for patients with Parkinson's, but the authors say that performing any type of physical activity is better than being sedentary.

"People with [Parkinson's disease] should feel empowered to find the type of exercise they enjoy, even those with more advanced symptoms," concludes Dr. Rafferty.

Findings of the study were published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.

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Exercise may protect against cognitive decline

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Miami in Florida, suggests exercise in older age may slow the rate of cognitive decline and knock off a decade of the brain.

Researchers found that adults over the age of 50 who engaged in light or no exercise showed a significantly faster decline in memory and cognitive skills, compared with those who engaged in moderate to intense exercise.

Similar research in the past suggested that any amount of exercise may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 50%.

Although, these types of studies are in abundance, researchers say it is important to understand how cognitive decline may be slowed by lifestyle factors, especially with an ageing population.

Dr.Clinton B. Wright, of the University of Miami in Florida notes:

"The number of people over the age of 65 in the United States is on the rise, meaning the public health burden of thinking and memory problems will likely grow.”

"Our study showed that for older people, getting regular exercise may be protective, helping them keep their cognitive abilities longer."

For the study, the researchers evaluated data of 876 adults aged 50 and older - an average age of 71 - free of memory and thinking problems that were part of the Northern Manhattan Study.

Participants were asked how often they had exercised in the previous 2 weeks and how long they had exercised for.

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Almost 90% of the participants said they engaged in either light exercise or no exercise at all. The other 10% reported engaging in moderate to high-intensity exercise, such as running, aerobics or calisthenics.

Approximately seven years later, participants had to take part in memory and thinking tests and undergo brain imaging with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The same cognitive tests were completed again five years later.

Participants who engaged in light or no exercise demonstrated a decline in memory and thinking skills compared with participants who did moderate or high-intensity exercise over a 5-year period. Researchers said the difference was comparable to 10 years of ageing.

According to the research team, this association remained after accounting for a number of potentially confounding factors, including alcohol consumption, smoking, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure.

Dr. Wright said:

"Physical activity is an attractive option to reduce the burden of cognitive impairment in public health because it is low cost and doesn't interfere with medications.

Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to more sedentary activity is needed to confirm these results."

The study was published online in the journal Neurology.

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