Daily Physical Activity May Help Lower Parkinson's Risk

Six hours a week of household chores or commuting seem protective, study finds

By Robert Preidt

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

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TUESDAY, Nov. 25, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A moderate amount of physical activity in your daily life may reduce your risk of Parkinson's disease, according to a new study.

"We found that a medium level of daily total physical activity is associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease," study author Karin Wirdefeldt, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said in a news release from the journal that published her study, Brain: A Journal of Neurology.

While the study found a link between exercise and a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease, it's important to note that it wasn't designed to prove that exercise was the definitive cause of this lower risk.

The research included more than 43,000 women and men in Sweden who were followed for an average of more than 12 years. None had Parkinson's disease when they enrolled. Nearly 300 had been diagnosed with the disorder by the end of the study.

Those who got more than six hours a week of physical activity through household tasks and commuting to work had a 43 percent lower risk of Parkinson's than those who got fewer than two hours a week of such activities, the researchers found.

The researchers also noted that men with a medium level of total physical activity were 45 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's than those with a low level of total physical activity.

Leisure time exercise alone was not associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's, according to the study.

SOURCE: Brain: A Journal of Neurology, news release, Nov. 18, 2014

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