How to prevent Parkinson's? More tea and coffee!

2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Parkinson's disease, and April 11 is World Parkinson's Day. The first symptom of Parkinson's disease is usually tremor or clumsy movement on one side of the limb, and hand shaking is common, which affects the contralateral limb, resulting in inability to take care of itself. Now the medical community is beginning to pay more attention to the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, which often appear many years before hand shaking.

Correspondent Jiang Changrong Cui Yuyan

All-media reporter of Yangzi Evening News

Yang Yan Yu Dandan

Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency and other manuscripts

[look at the data first]

Parkinson has become the "third killer" of the middle-aged and elderly.

As the "third killer" threatening the health and life of the middle-aged and elderly, Parkinson's disease is second only to tumors, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, mostly in the middle-aged and elderly, and has a younger trend.

"hand shaking may not sound so fatal, but tens of millions of Parkinson's patients around the world face suffering every day. Hand tremors lead to basic loss of physical function, and even a simple normal meal is an extravagant hope." Sun Shenggang, deputy director of the Institute of Neuroscience, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that according to an authoritative survey in the industry, there are nearly 3 million Parkinson's patients in China.

There are more than 200000 patients with Parkinson's disease in Jiangsu.

A reporter from the Yangzi Evening News learned that the incidence of Parkinson's disease is closely related to age: one in every 100 people over the age of 60 suffers from Parkinson's disease. At present, there are more than 200000 patients with Parkinson's disease in Jiangsu. Experts from Nanjing brain Hospital said that when it comes to Parkinson's disease, many people will think of motor disorders, such as hand tremor, tremor, abnormal gait, etc., but now the medical community has begun to pay more attention to the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. these non-motor symptoms often appear many years before "hand shaking".

What are the initial symptoms?

Be on guard against abnormal sleep, depression and constipation

Granny Zhang, 75, has behaved abnormally after falling asleep for more than a year, always talking in her sleep, shouting, punching and kicking in her dreams, and even kicking her wife out of bed once. In the Department of Neurology of CUHK Hospital, Grandma Zhang was finally diagnosed with sleep disorder of Parkinson's disease.

Liu Weiguo, chief physician of the Department of Neurology of Nanjing brain Hospital, also told reporters that he once met a patient who had trouble sleeping in the middle of the night, always beating and kicking. His behavior attracted the attention of his family and was soon diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. "the study found that a considerable number of people with Parkinson's disease had very significant sleep disorders in the years before the onset of Parkinson's disease, such as difficulty falling asleep or yelling during sleep."

In addition to abnormal sleep, depression is also the most common non-motor symptom in patients with Parkinson's disease. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation and abnormal sensation such as numbness and pain may also be associated with Parkinson's disease. Data show that some patients with Parkinson's disease develop constipation 10-20 years before typical motor symptoms, while depression occurs more than 20 years before motor symptoms.

Dr. Yuan Baoyu of the Department of Neurology of the Chinese University Hospital reminded that the "clues" in the early stage of Parkinson's disease also included the slowing of fine movements of the upper limbs, the gradual difficulty in writing, the bending of handwriting, the fragmentation and panic of the gait, and even the attenuation of the sense of smell and depression, etc., but 60% of the patients came to see a doctor only after they had obvious symptoms.

How to prevent it at ordinary times?

Drinking more tea and coffee can reduce the risk of the disease.

Some time ago, the popularity of "smoking can prevent Parkinson's disease" on the Internet has even become an "excuse" for some people not to quit smoking. Experts said that foreign studies have found that long-term smokers suffer from Parkinson's disease less than non-smokers, but it can not be believed that smoking can prevent the occurrence or progression of Parkinson's disease. In addition, smoking is a major risk factor for respiratory and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Compared with other hazards of smoking, the benefits of smoking in reducing the incidence of Parkinson's disease are insignificant.

Foreign studies have found that drinking tea or coffee may reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, which is recognized by experts. Caffeine can increase the sensitivity of neurotransmitters such as dopamine in the brain. Caffeine itself also stimulates the central nervous system, which can increase the sharpness of the brain. In addition, to prevent Parkinson's syndrome, we should pay attention to enhance physical exercise and mental activity, delay the aging of brain nerve tissue; clinically, we should seriously treat hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia to prevent the occurrence of cerebral arteriosclerosis.

Treatment is still a big problem.

There is still no cure for Parkinson's disease.

What worries Parkinson's patients is that there is no fundamental cure for Parkinson's disease.

Liu Weiguo told reporters that the causes of Parkinson's disease can be divided into primary and secondary. So far, the etiology of primary Parkinson's disease is still not completely clear, and it is generally believed that it is mainly related to aging, heredity, environment and other comprehensive factors; secondary Parkinson's disease is mostly caused by encephalitis, cerebral arteriosclerosis or manganese, carbon monoxide poisoning and other causes.

Mao Shanping, deputy director of the Department of Neurology at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, said that the exact cause of Parkinson's disease is still unclear, and dopamine and other drug treatments have become the main means of treatment for Parkinson's disease.

With the development of robot and Internet big data technology, directly correcting the jitter attitude with the aid of intelligent machinery has become a new treatment idea. In 2016, Rui Food Intelligent Anti-shake spoon, jointly developed and produced by Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Kobe University in Japan, became the second product in the world involved in this field after Google.

"this spoon captures the motion posture through a sensor, which is actually a small robot." According to Zhao Jin, a professor at the School of Automation of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, who has long been engaged in control research, Ruifan intelligent anti-shaking spoon helps tremor patients eat anti-shaking by intelligently identifying and actively counteracting hand tremors.

Celebrities who suffer from Parkinson's disease

Boxing champion Ali

Ali was once praised as the greatest boxer in the world. His daughter Rashid's book, I will hold you, won't let you fall, describes the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, such as tremors, body bending and foot instability. Ali said in the preface that Parkinson's disease has taken away a lot of fun in his life, but he is convinced that one day there will be a chance to cure the disease. Maintaining an optimistic and positive attitude is very important for patients with Parkinson's disease. Drugs are not the only way to control the disease. The psychological support of relatives and friends is of special value to patients with Parkinson's disease.

Mathematician Chen Jingrun

In 1983, Chen Jingrun, a 51-year-old mathematician, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Since October 1993, Chen Jingrun has been treated in Zhongguancun Hospital. Parkinson's disease was regarded as the "Goldbach conjecture" in medicine, and the world had not conquered it at that time. On January 17, 1996, Chen Jingrun's condition began to deteriorate and died at 01:10 that day. Originally, he was the most hopeful Chinese mathematician to climb the pinnacle of Goldbach's conjecture, but a series of effects of Parkinson's disease finally stopped him.

Oscar-winning actress Katherine Hepburn

Katherine Hepburn is an American film actress. She is regarded as an iconic figure in American film and theatre and a Hollywood legend. Katherine Hepburn suffered from Parkinson's disease and suffered from arthritis and pneumonia. Katherine Hepburn, a four-time Oscar-winning Hollywood actress, died at her home at 02:50 local time at the age of 96.