Intelligence and Parkinson’s (2)

In my last post, I discovered that at least one group of researchers had found that your risk of developing Parkinson’s increases with your level of education (which is standing in for intelligence as I’m not sure how trustworthy intelligence tests really are).

Is There a Parkinson’s Personality?

I’ve come across conjecture that a certain type of person is more likely to develop Parkinson’s a number of times now, most recently in the film about Barbara Thompson described in my last post. Barbara’s consultant suggested that people who are in some way driven or obsessed were more likely to get Parkinson’s. Other, vaguer, sources have suggested that Parkies are inherently more intelligent than average.

So I decided to do a quick survey of the literature (or, rather, the abstracts available on the Web). You can skip the details and go straight to the summary if you wish.

TV Alert: “Barbara Thompson: Playing Against Time” (BBC FOUR)

On Sunday 19th February, at 9.00-10.15pm, BBC FOUR will be showing a film about Barbara Thompson, professional jazz saxophonist and composer. Who just happens to have Parkinson’s. It goes without saying that music must play a vital part in her battle with the condition, although I imagine that there is a terrible fear that she will lose the ability to play. Thompson and her husband, Jon Hiseman (jazz-rock drummer and mainstay of the jazz-prog-rock band Colosseum) are apparently remarkably candid about their experiences with Parkinson’s.

Tai Chi comes out tops as Parkie Exercise

Yang Chengfu, modern master of Tai Chi

Further to my former post on the subject of tai chi as therapy for Parkinson’s, I see that there are reports of exercise regimes based on the martial art being the best (of those compared) for Parkinson’s patients.

A Statement issued by the American PDF (Parkinson’s Disease Foundation) on the subject of “Tai Chi and Balance Problems in Parkinson’s” cites research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In this study, three exercise regimes were compared:

• stretching
• resistance training for strength building
• Tai Chi

The Beeb Covers Ballet for Parkies

You may recall my post about ballet a while back. Well, it seems that there is still interest from the media in the subject – and from researchers, too.

It’s a video article, and you can watch it here:

English National Ballet helps Parkinson’s patients

The study is being performed by scientists at London’s Roehampton University. I have heard resentment among other people with Parkinson’s that research money is being spent on this – which we already “know” helps – and not on a cure. I would guess that the amount being spent on this is probably very small – the classes were already being run – and I think that it may help to confirm the benefits, and maybe even establish the “best” type of exercise.