The positive effect of exercise on mood, as a non-motor symptom, in Parkinson's disease

Sammanfattning: Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative neurological disease where dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia degenerate and die. This leads to dopamine deficiency in the basal ganglia, affecting both motor and non-motor systems, giving both motor and non-motor symptoms. Common non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease are depression, anxiety and apathy. Exercise have shown to be effective in decreasing depression in otherwise healthy people. The aim of this degree project was to examine if exercise can act as a treatment against impaired mood for people with Parkinson's disease. Nine trials investigating the effect of different types of training with different duration and different exercise intervals were selected and studied. By comparing the results obtained in these trials, it was found that in seven of the nine studies, exercise have had a positive effect on depression. Fewer studies had examined anxiety and apathy, and the effect of exercise was not as clear. Anxiety decreased in two of three studies and apathy decreased in one of three. The studied material is limited but the conclusion that can be drawn from this study, is that exercise is a safe way to, without negative side effects, treat and/or counteract mood disorders including depressive symptoms in Parkinson’s disease, mild to moderate stage.