Parkinson's Disease is On the Rise

Over the years, overall health has improved drastically. We have seen revolutions in pharmacology and medical technology, better nutrition, and also improvements in public healthcare. All of this promises a longer, healthier future for our global population. However, this prosperity does come at a cost. Age-related neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, threaten to affect more of us than ever before. Consequently, this has set the stage for an unprecedented medical challenge. 

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A specialist om Parkinson's Disease says "By 2040, we can truly talk about a pandemic that will result in increased human suffering, as well as rocketing societal and medical costs." In his article, he highlights what we are in for in the coming decades. He predicts that current Parkinson's figures will double, if not triple over the next 20 years.
This problem is not just limited to Parkinson's disease. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are also expected to skyrocket with our aging population. This occurs as more of us survive long enough to see our aged bodies burdened with conditions few once lived to endure. 
A big part of the problem arises due to the lack of knowledge about how many such neurological conditions develop in the first place. Parkinson's became known in the early 19th century, when an eminent British surgeon named James Parkinson outlined the characteristics of this degenerative disease in his treatise, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy. 
Today we know that the symptoms of trembling extremities, impeded mobility, rigidity, and mood changes are linked with the loss of dopamine-producing tissues deep inside one of the brain's control centers, called the basal ganglia. An estimated 6.1 million people across the planet had Parkinson's 'shaking palsy' disease, more than double 1990s figures. 

Reduced production of dopamine isn't considered to be deadly, but the overall loss of function, combined with the general senescence that comes with growing old - produces an average life expectancy of just seven to 14 years beyond diagnosis.
Records show that today, roughly around 200,000 individuals could be expected to die prematurely each year due to a result of having the condition. But, what's more worrying, is that in another twenty years, the estimated number of people who could have the condition could be as high as 12 million. 
Evidence shows that Parkinson's starts with changes in gut microbes that usually break down a diverse mix of pesticides, medications, and pollutants in our environment. But it doesn't just end there. There's another paradoxical factor at work, which is expected to drive the number up to as high as 17 million.
More than 50 years ago, researchers observed a strange link between tobacco use and Parkinson's. The relationship is especially evident today, as it is confounding. The risk of the disease drops by 40% among long-term smokers. The mechanism behind this relationship is indeed a mystery, primarily when given the broad range of health risks that are known to come with cigarettes. Of course, it is not advised that you take up smoking as a result!
As depressing as the news may seem,  researchers claim that acting now can help ensure those numbers don't get so high. After all, society has successfully confronted pandemics of polio, breast cancer, and HIV to varying degrees in the past century. 

Uncovering Why Playing a Musical Instrument Can Protect Brain Health

A recent study has uncovered a crucial piece into why playing a musical instrument can help older adults retain their listening skills and ward off age-related cognitive declines. This finding could lead to the development of brain rehabilitation interventions through musical training.

The study, found that learning to play a sound on a musical instrument alters the brain waves in a way that improves a person's listening and hearing skills over a short time frame. This change in brain activity demonstrates the brain's ability to rewire itself and compensate for injuries or diseases that may hamper a person's capacity to perform tasks.

"Music has been known to have beneficial effects on the brain, but there has been limited understanding into what about music makes a difference," says a Dr. "This is the first study demonstrating that learning the fine movement needed to reproduce a sound on an instrument changes the brain's perception of sound in a way that is not seen when listening to music."

This finding supports Dr.'s research using musical training to help stroke survivors rehabilitate motor movement in their upper bodies. The scientists have a history of breakthroughs into how a person's musical background impacts the listening abilities and cognitive function as they age and they continue to explore how brain changes during aging impact hearing.

The study involved 32 young, healthy adults who had normal hearing and no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders. The brain waves of participants were first recorded while they listened to bell-like sounds from a Tibetan singing bowl (a small bell struck with a wooden mallet to create sounds). After listening to the recording, half of the participants were provided the Tibetan singing bowl and asked to recreate the same sounds and rhythm by striking it and the other half recreated the sound by pressing a key on a computer keypad.

"It has been hypothesized that the act of playing music requires many brain systems to work together, such as the hearing, motor and perception systems," says Dr., who is also a medical biophysics professor. "This study was the first time we saw direct changes in the brain after one session, demonstrating that the action of creating music leads to a strong change in brain activity."

The study's next steps involve analyzing recovery between stroke patients with musical training compared to physiotherapy and the impact of musical training on the brains of older adults.

With additional funding, the study could explore developing musical training rehabilitation programs for other conditions that impact motor function, such as traumatic brain injury.


Dr.'s work is setting the foundation to develop hearing aids of the future and cognitive training programs to maintain hearing health.

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The Single Best Type of Exercise For Your Brain

Want an all-natural way to lift your mood, improve your memory, and protect your brain against age-related cognitive decline? Get moving.

A wealth of recent research, including two new studies published this spring, suggests that any type of exercise that raises your heart rate and gets you moving and sweating for a sustained period of time - known as aerobic exercise - has a significant, overwhelmingly beneficial impact on the brain.
 
"Aerobic exercise is the key for your head, just as it is for your heart," write the authors of a recent article in the Harvard Medical School blog, Mind and Mood.

While some of the benefits, like a lift in mood, can emerge as soon as a few minutes into a sweaty bike ride, others, like improved memory, might take several weeks to crop up.

That means that the best type of fitness for your mind is any aerobic exercise that you can do regularly and consistently for at least 45 minutes at a time.

Depending on which benefits you're looking for, you might try adding a brisk walk or a jog to your daily routine. A pilot study in people with severe depression found that just 30 minutes of treadmill walking for 10 consecutive days was "sufficient to produce a clinically relevant and  statistically significant  reduction in depression."

Aerobic workouts can also help people who aren't suffering from clinical depression feel less stressed by helping to reduce levels of the body's natural stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, according to a recent study in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science.

If you're over 50, a study published last month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests the best results come from combining aerobic and resistance exercise. 
 
That could include anything from high-intensity interval training, like the 7-minute workout to dynamic flow yoga , which intersperses strength-building poses like planks and push-ups with heart-pumping dance-like moves.

Another study published on May 3 provides some additional support to that research, finding that in adults aged 60-88, walking for 30 minutes four days a week  for 12 weeks appeared to strengthen connectivity in a region of the brain where weakened connections have been linked with memory loss.

Researchers still aren't sure why this type of exercise appears to provide a boost to the brain, but studies suggest it has to do with increased blood flow which provides our minds with fresh energy and oxygen.
And one recent study in older women who displayed potential symptoms of dementia found that aerobic exercise was linked with an increase in the size of the hippocampus, a brain area involved in learning and memory.

Joe Northey, the lead author of the British study and an exercise scientist at the University of Canberra, says his research suggests that anyone in good health over age 50 should do 45 minutes to an hour of aerobic exercise "on as many days of the week as feasible".
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