For most people, it begins as a slight hand tremor.
As it progresses, however, it soon becomes something than a tremor–it transforms into an all-body disorder that can ruin your quality of life. Called Parkinson’s disease, nearly 60,000 Americans develop it each year, and unfortunately there isn’t a cure.
There may be a way to prevent it, however, according to new research from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
According to the findings, which were reported in Brain: A Journal of Neurology, researchers found that adults who spent more than 6 hours a day staying physically active–and not necessarily exercising–were 43 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Those who spent less than 2 hours staying physically active were more likely to develop the disorder, however.
The study was led by Dr. Karin Wirdefeldt, a medical epidemiology, biostatistics, and clinical neuroscience researcher.
“This was a prospective study including both males and females, and all information on physical activity was assessed before the disease occurrence, making recall bias and reverse causation less likely,” says Wirdefeldt. “Another major strength of this study is that we considered the entire spectrum of daily energy output, rather than purely focusing on dedicated exercising.”
Wirdefeldt, along with other researchers from the Karolinska Institutet, initially looked at data collected on 43,000 men and women who originally participated in the Swedish National March Cohort. Given questionnaires, the participants detailed their physical activity habits, such as how often they did household chores, commuted to work, stayed active as part of their job, or spent time participating in leisure activities.
From there, researchers tallied up how often they stayed physically active on a daily basis.
Next, researchers looked at how many of the participants eventually developed Parkinson’s disease, first examining the follow-up study they participated in during October 1997. From 1997 to 2010, when the follow-up period ended, they found that 286 participants had developed Parkinson’s disease.
From these findings, they estimated that those who spent at least 6 hours a day being physically active cut their risk of Parkinson’s disease by over 40 percent.
“In this prospective study with thorough assessment of physical activity, we found that a medium level of daily total physical activity was associated with a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, most prominently in males,” say researchers. “Our meta-analysis supports the inverse association between physical activity and Parkinson’s disease risk that we found.”
In conclusion, researchers say this study supports continuing research stating that physical activity could affect a person’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, though the findings only show an association.
What You Should Do
Physical activity is important at all ages–and not just to stay slim. To minimize your risk of Parkinson’s disease, staying physically active at least 6 hours a day–something you can do by doing household chores, simply moving around more, or even exercising–could keep you protected from a future diagnosis, say health experts.
Readers: How do you stay physically active?
Sources:
Parkinson’s Disease Overview – Parkinson.org
‘Medium’ Daily Exercise Tied to Lower Risk of Parkinson’s Disease – MedicalNewsToday.com
Physical Activity and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease in the Swedish National March Cohort – OxfordJournals.org
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