Physical activity of any sort is effective in helping Parkinson's patients fight depression, a new study found.
Depression in Parkinson's patients can be tackled by encouraging them to indulge in long-term group exercise, according to a press release
Parkinson's disease is a widespread condition in the United States with over 1 million Americans suffering from it. Each year, approximately 60,000 new cases are diagnosed. The best pharmacological and surgical management has not been able to cure this disease with most patients developing progressive disability over time.
For the study, 31 Parkinson's patients were randomly assigned to different group exercise programs conducted for one hour, three days a week. The first "early start" group attended the program for a total of 48 weeks while the other "delayed start" group attended the same program for only 24 weeks.
"Our findings demonstrate that long-term group exercise programs are feasible in the Parkinson's disease population. Patients enjoyed exercising, and they stayed with the program that included cardiovascular and resistance training," said principal investigator Dr. Ariane Park, a movement disorder neurologist at the Madden Center for Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center.
"Our study also showed that earlier participation in a group exercise program significantly improved symptoms of depression compared to the delayed start group, and this is important because often mood can be more debilitating than motor symptoms," Park said.
More than 50 percent of all Parkinson's patients suffer from depression. Therefore, this study offers new ways to help these patients cope with this mental disorder. Researchers also found that this exercise delays the progression of Parkinson's disease but were not able to provide any evidence of "neuroprotective" effect of exercising.
Currently, researchers have not recommended any standardized physical exercise regimen nor the frequency or intensity of these exercise, but state that any exercise that improves the physical well-being of the patient is good enough to fight depression due to the disease.
