Exercise, whether moderate or vigorous, may help relieve Parkinson’s symptoms, including fatigue, new research shows.
As the study’s lead author, Dr. Philip Millar , explained, Parkinson’s patients too often feel overwhelmed by shame or depression, so they stop going to the gym or exercising. That’s a shame, Millar said, because “if you stop doing physical activity, your body adapts and you lose physical function.”
How beneficial can exercise be for patients?
To find out, Millar’s team at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, had three groups of 10 people at various stages of Parkinson’s disease. Each group worked out three times a week at the gym, for a period of 10 weeks.
Male and female participants were between 45 and 79 years old, and participated in one of two modes of exercise training, moderate intensity or high intensity.
Millar’s team tracked several physiological metrics: the person’s “maximal oxygen consumption,” their level of fatigue or vulnerability to fatigue, gait, balance and motor symptoms.
“Previous work found that high-intensity interval training could improve the distance a person with Parkinson’s can walk, but this could be because they become more stable or confident in their gait,” said Millar, an associate professor of human health and nutritional sciences at Guelph. “It may not have anything to do with cardiorespiratory fitness and the impact on motor symptoms has never been studied before.”
According to the authors, the findings suggest that, for the most part, people with Parkinson’s can choose whatever level of exercise they feel comfortable with, without fear of losing any benefits.
Reducing motor symptoms, especially, “is a very significant amount that can make a significant difference in someone’s life,” Millar said in a university news release. “We want to help contribute to a greater understanding of the benefits of exercise for people with Parkinson’s, so that physicians, rehabilitation specialists, community supports , partners and family can help advocate for patients to get as much exercise as they should.”
Overall, he said, “a big push is to convince people of the benefits. In any disease, when we think about taking medications, we should also think about exercise.”
