Keeping up daily doses of regular activity, rather than sporadic exercise sessions, is the best way to combat the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

That’s according to a new study from the University of Michigan, published in the journal Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, which found regular bouts of sedentary behaviour outweigh the benefits of occasional exercise.

Frequently dubbed “the new smoking,” sitting (or sedentary behaviour) has become recognised as a significant health risk, particularly among those who already have health problems.

Parkinson's patients often become sedentary because of motor symptoms such as gait, balance problems or falls, often leading to a fear of falling and subsequent reluctance to do any activity.

The researchers examined whether participation in exercise, like swimming or aerobics, could help alleviate the motor symptoms that made these patients want to stay sedentary in the first place.

"What we found was it's not so much the exercise, but the routine activities from daily living that were protecting motor skills," said study principal investigator Nicolaas Bohnen, M.D., Ph.D., director of the U-M Functional Neuroimaging, Cognitive and Mobility Laboratory. "Sitting is bad for anybody, but it's even worse for Parkinson's patients.”

Researchers investigated the relationship between the duration of both non-exercise and exercise physical activity and motor symptom severity for 48 Parkinson's disease patients over a four-week period. They performed PET brain imaging to measure dopamine levels and used a questionnaire to learn about how physically active the patients were, including both exercise and non-exercise activity. They found that non-exercise physical activity was linked to less severe motor symptoms.

"This may have a big impact for Parkinson's patients," added co-author Jonathan Snider, M.D., clinical lecturer of neurology at the University of Michigan.

"Not only worsening Parkinsonism but also increasingly sedentary behaviour may explain more severe motor symptoms in advanced Parkinson's disease."