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(HealthDay News) — A moderate amount of physical activity in daily life may reduce risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study published online Nov. 19 in Brain: A Journal of Neurology.
“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, M.D., Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said in a journal news release.
The research included 43,368 women and men in Sweden who were followed for an average of 12.6 years. None had Parkinson’s disease when they enrolled. The researchers note that 286 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 less than two hours a week of such activities. 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.
