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Writer's pictureJui Keskar

Lifestyle tips




While there is no cure for Parkinson’s Disease as of now, the disease can be controlled to a greater extent through the management of lifestyle. Lifestyle in this case has two essential dimensions:

1.      Good healthy Diet

2.      Good activity level

 

Good healthy diet

Experts have suggested the specific nuts, turmeric, cinnamon, antioxidants, vitamins, protein rich, low carb diet. Some experts also suggest specific ketogenic diets. Right food can help in managing better brain health, or manage moods or even avoid development of Dementia. Some foods like Coconut have anti-inflammatory effects. Eating healthy food has been found to reduce risk of mortality among patients of PD. Any diet plan should be tried only after consulting the doctor.

 

Good activity level

High Activity level has amazing ability to control the symptoms. Some patients have been able to effectively take up ping pong to manage the symptoms like tremors, stiffness, balance, etc. Regular exercises like aerobics, strengthening, balance, stretching (like Yoga) all together can be great. Exercise has been found to have a direct correlation with low mortality. High activity level may also reduce the risk of developing PD at a later stage. Any exercise plan should be tried only after consulting the doctor.

 

Following are some of the interesting articles:

 


1)

Playing ping can be life changing for PD patients

 

A PD patient who was diagnosed with this disease at an early age of 38. Now at the age of 48, she won the National Parkinson’s championship. She believes, Ping Pong (Table tennis) has helped her regain control of her life. Patients of PD have motor symptoms as well as non-motor symptoms. She also developed the problem of freezing and getting stuck. Once she started practicing table tennis, her stance, reaction time and weight distribution improved. Another study revealed that table tennis every week improved speech, handwriting, getting up and walking. Any exercise should be tried only after consulting the doctor.

 

Following is the link to the original article:


2)

Importance of good nutrition for controlling PD

Nutrition plays an important role in managing the impact of PD, especially in easing the symptoms and help brain health. Some foods even affect the way medications work.

 

From neuroprotection perspective, some foods like the following have been studied by scientists:

·         Nuts like Walnuts, Pistachios, Macadamia, Cashews, Almonds, Brazil nuts have shown a lot of promise especially due to the ingredients like Vitamin K, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, minerals or other nutritional value. While some of the nuts help in elevating the mood, others may reduce the risk of dementia or counteract environmental toxins.

·         Herbs like Turmeric and Cinnamon, have a lot of nutritional value. Cinnamon has the power to normalize brain changes and neurotransmitter levels. Organic cinnamon grown in Sri Lanka is the best.

·         Food like Coconuts (which contain medium-chain triglycerides) can have anti-inflammatory effect. Other such food includes certain fishes and leafy vegetables.

·         Antioxidant containing foods like blueberries and raspberries (especially those which are purple or red), can counteract free-radicals that can damage healthy neurons.

 

Any diet plan should be tried only after consulting the doctor.

 

For more details, please refer to the original source:

 

 

Healthy food, Physical activity => Low mortality

High quality healthy diet and high level of physical activity has association with lower risk of developing PD at a later stage. In a cohort study, scientists now found that there is an inverse relation between eating healthy food and mortality risks among PD patients. A similar relationship exists between physical activity and mortality risk. This is indeed an encouraging news!

Following is the link to the actual article:


3)

Aerobics to prevent development of PD

Studies of impact of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease revealed that exercises (like aerobics) may lead to adaptive neuroplasticity in brain. Exercises also has a disease-modifying potential. Finally, it can stabilize motor parkinsonism. In short, aerobics is very good for people to prevent development of Parkinson’s Disease. Any exercise should be tried only after consulting the doctor.

Following is the link to the original article:


 

 

4) 

Vitamins, proteins are vital

 

Balanced diet containing vitamins can also act against oxidative stress there by helping in the treatment of PD. Vitamin C is critical for releasing neurotransmitters. These transmitters are the messenger of the brain. If it is not present, it may create hallucinations. Deficiency of Vitamin B3/Niacin may lead to dementia. Ketogenic diet is also found to have good effect on patients with certain types of epilepsy. Any diet plan should be tried only after consulting the doctor.

Proteins, gut bacteria and flavonoids are best food nutrients for PD patients.

 

Following are the links to the original articles:



5)

Best exercises for PD

Experts say that there are four core exercises that are useful for PD patients:

1.      Aerobics (brisk walk)

2.      Strengthening (weights)

3.      Balance (tai chi)

4.      Stretching (yoga)

 

While including all these as part of the exercise regimen is good, there could be different exercise regimen feasible depending on the stage of progression of PD. Hence, it is important that the patient consults the doctor before trying out any exercise.

 

Following is the original article for all the details:

 


 

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