Moderate exercise benefits people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease: Study | News – Times of India Videos

A new study found that people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease who regularly get one to two hours of moderate exercise twice a week, such as walking, may have fewer problems keeping their balance or performing daily activities later on. The study has been published in the ‘Neurology Journal’. The researchers found that those who exercised regularly for five years performed better on cognitive tests and had slower disease progression in several respects. Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes tremors, stiffness, and difficulty walking, maintaining balance, and coordination. The study looked at 237 people with early-stage Parkinson’s. They had an average age of 63, and the researchers followed them for up to six years. Participants’ exercise levels at the start of the study were determined by a questionnaire that measures the time and intensity during the previous week of leisure activities, such as walking and cycling; domestic activity, such as gardening; and occupational activity, such as caring for others. Common cognitive tests were used to measure people’s verbal and memory skills and how long it took them to complete mental tasks. It was found that it was more important to maintain physical activity over time. The researchers used a common test to rate each person’s Parkinson’s symptoms on a scale of zero to four, with higher scores indicating more severe impairment. People who engaged in below-average levels of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, or less than one to two hours, once or twice a week, increased from an average score of 1.4 to 3.7 over six years.