Your Brain On... Parkinson's (2025)

Dean Sherzai (0:00)

Dear listeners of the Your Brain On podcast, after releasing more than 50 episodes featuring more than 100 leading experts in every aspect of health and lifestyle imaginable, we've welcomed a lot of new listeners.

Ayesha Sherzai (0:13)

So this week, we're going to do something we've never done before. We share a previous episode with something new and exciting. We recently had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research on their Ask the MD video series, speaking to our friend, Dr. Rachel Dolhun, the Foundation's Principal Medical Advisor.

Dean Sherzai (0:34)

Dr. Dolhun was previously one of our guest experts for Your Brain On Parkinson's, along with movement disorders specialist Dr. Michael Okun and neurogenetics expert Dr. Matthew Farrer. We'll be resharing that episode for this week and we'll return to regular scheduling next week. But we'd also love for you to watch our Ask the MD interview with the Michael J. Fox Foundation. It's such an incredible conversation. Here's a snippet of what we spoke about with Rachel.

Rachel Dolhun (1:02)

I love what you say about add or increase, right? It's about what we can add to our lives, even if it's exercise or more sunlight when we're out taking a walk, focusing on that framing around the positive and what we're adding to our lives versus what we might have to think about taking away.

Ayesha Sherzai (1:19)

That's critical. I think the first 10 habits that you slowly add over time should be adding. Don't take away anything, because once you have 10 positive steps, then you're not turning back. Now you're going to take away the negatives, but don't even start there. Add positives.

We also talked about how your brain is the only organ that actually gets better as you age.

Dean Sherzai (1:41)

We actually have a lot of data from successful cognitive ageers showing that if you address the lifestyle risk factors, it can actually stay beautiful and healthy for the rest of your life.

Rachel Dolhun (1:52)

I want to emphasize something you said, which is that our brain can change in positive ways throughout our life. I think we long thought that what's done is done in the brain, and you can't change things, but you're here to tell us that's not true.

Ayesha Sherzai (2:05)

Remember, 87 billion neurons. Let's do the math. Each of them can make a couple of connections or as many as 30,000 connections, and that's happening constantly, all the time, that's powerful. During the interview, we had the honor of answering a question from Lisa, a lovely lady who was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease in 2014 Lisa asked us about the brain health benefits of exercise.

Lisa (2:32)

I think I need motivation to know what does exercise truly do to my brain. For Parkinson's patient, is it a bigger impact on the brain than perhaps we realize?

Ayesha Sherzai (2:43)

There's really not much that's more powerful than exercise. This little three pound organ, two percent of body's weight, consumes a lot of blood. And what gets it to it? Exercise does. It also increases this hormone called BDNF, brain derived neurotrophic factor, that grows the connections between neurons. Mental activity and exercise are the things that create the connections. This is true for Parkinson's and the studies have shown this. And this is true for Alzheimer's or basically for brain health. There's literally nothing that helps grow connections between neurons better than exercise.

Dean Sherzai (3:16)

You can watch our Ask the MD conversation in full now on any device. We've linked the video in the show notes for this episode. And now we welcome you to listen to the original Your Brain On Parkinson's episode. Whether it's your first time listening to it or a revisit, we hope you enjoy it and you find the discussion insightful. See you again soon.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder most commonly characterized by tremors, stiffness and other motor symptoms. It is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world, has more than doubled in the last 25 years and it is projected to continue rising. Its onset is often attributed to aging and genetics, but the causes, symptoms and cognitive impacts of Parkinson's are far more complex. So complex, in fact, that many medical professionals are shifting from defining it as a single disease to a group of diseases.

Ayesha Sherzai (4:15)

In this episode, we're excited to unpack the disease's 200 year history and looking ahead at what the future promises for its prevention and treatment.

Dean Sherzai (4:24)

Joining us for this conversation are the Senior Vice President of Medical Communications at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Dr. Rachel Dolhun, Evolutionary Biologist, Movement Disorder Specialist and Director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, Dr. Michael Okun, and Neurogenetics Expert and Professor of Neurology at the University of Florida, Dr. Matthew Farrer. This is Your Brain On Parkinson's. You might notice while listening to this episode the term Parkinson's, the possessive form, and Parkinson, the non-possessive form, used interchangeably. The reason why is actually quite interesting. There's a movement in medicine to shift the naming of diseases away from the scientists who discovered them, sometimes in favor of more descriptive names which highlight specific symptoms. Hyperthyroidism, for example, is sometimes used instead of Graves' Disease, the autoimmune disease discovered by the 19th century surgeon Robert Graves, which causes hyperthyroidism.