<h1><b> Old minds are like old horses.....</h1></b>

....you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order. (John Adams).

I was looking through my articles and found a couple of useful sites about exercise and parkinson's. I can't recall the location of the sites, but here are some excerpts

• Parkinson's disease is a neurological condition characterized by muscle rigidity, a lack of voluntary movements and tremors. The condition is caused by degeneration of dopamine cells in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia. By promoting the synthesis of dopamine, exercise can help to counter some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. A paper published in the "Journal of Neuroscience" in 2007 found results in support of this theory using mouse models. Giselle Petzinger, the principle investigator of the study, told "Science Daily" that "surviving dopamine cells in our animal models -- made to simulate what Parkinson's patients suffer with -- subjected to intensive treadmill exercise appear to work harder."
• Exercise has been receiving increasing attention as a means by which patients with Parkinson's disease can improve their functioning. Bicycling, (tango) dancing, and tai-chi are just a few examples of physical exercise that have recently been featured in the media and touted to favorably effect parkinsonian symptoms. Most clinicians would agree that, in general, exercise is important to maintain one's health and overall condition. It therefore makes perfect sense to advocate exercise therapy for patients with PD so that they can better compensate for their impaired motor function.

  The effect of exercise on motor function, however, may go beyond just that. Animal studies suggest that exercise regulates brain function to modify parkinsonian features (1-3) while there is some evidence that it also protects against neurological injury (4,5). Human studies in patients with PD also suggest a beneficial effect of exercise on motor control (2,6,7) but the optimal type of exercise remains unknown. Several studies comparing high intensity resistive exercise with less intense forms of exercise are currently ongoing. Even less clear has been the matter of how exercise would bring about changes in the nervous system that result in improved motor performance.

  The study by Marta Vuckovic et al. in this issue of Movement Disorders addresses exactly that question. The authors offer compelling animal data to suggest that high intensity exercise leads to increased dopamine D2 receptor expression.

So now I have to make my exercise more intense. I need a treadmill. I have only tried it once and the fact is, I was bored silly. With the onset of PD; however, I find my opinion is changing. I will practise the self-flagellation of running on the spot for an hour, no scenery, no wind, no noises,etc. I will, you know, probably do it, make myself do it. My tendency to OCD will overcome all that silence; that sense of aloneness, that isolation. Hmmm... an hour or so to myself. Again,hmmmmm. Sounds heavenly. Doesn't it? So, let's just hold on! Think the situation through. That doesn't sound so bad. I will be able to zone out and listen to music. Final hmmmmmmm.

Now all I need is that treadmill.