#1 in a series about movement as medicine
By now, you've read (or at least intended to read) the Yale Study of how exercise can delay or even reverse the progression of Parkinson's Disease. Well if that ain't reason enough to lace up your sneakers...let's talk about how exercise makes you FEEL.
You know that feeling when you crush a workout? Or even better, when a workout crushes you and you're dragging your tired ass out of the gym hoping you can make it home before you collapse? You did something difficult and worthwhile. You rose to a challenge -- and overcame it.
As my friend Beth says, "I embrace the feeling of strength and power I have when I walk down the driveway after a grueling HITT session with my trainer."
"I feel strongest when my six-year-old granddaughter teaches 'gym class' in my basement and I can follow along." --Beth Sullivan
For me, the scariest thing about PD is how it snuck up on me, unseen, inside my skull. All those years it must've been eating away at my substantia nigra before I ever felt a tremor in my hand!
So to me, exercise is a way of taking control and dragging the fight into the light, where I can see it and do my best to fight back. PD may try to make me slower and weaker, but every time I struggle through one more pushup than I could yesterday....every time I shave 20 seconds off my mile pace, is a victory I can SEE and FEEL.
"Physical strength empowers me and makes me feel connected to my body, which often has a mind of its own. It gives me a sense of control in my life while I deal with a disease that is unpredictable." --Marsha Colten
Just standing in a "power pose" can boost your confidence. Though the research is still being debated, many people (including me!) believe that taking a powerful stance --proudly taking up space -- makes us feel stronger and more confident than a hunched, defeated position (#FUPD!).
Ready for a dose of positive energy? Play this song. https://open.spotify.com/track/2RMo1ARnq9eSnxmFGqGl1C
and run, walk, do jumping jacks, or just fling your arms up in a "VEE" -- cause you got the moves like Jagger. Try it! Don't worry if you scare the dog. He'll get over it.
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