Many MS patients avoid exercise, thinking it will aggravate pain or make their fatigue worse. But research has shown that the opposite is true—exercise can actually improve symptoms, according to Diana Duda, PT, DPT, MSCS.
Research tells us exercise can help you manage multiple sclerosis symptoms, including fatigue, and problems with balance and walking. Exercising can also: improve your mood. improve your overall health when your MS is mild.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) triggers that worsen symptoms or cause a relapse can include stress, heart disease and smoking. While some are easier to avoid than others, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and overall health and wellness can have outsized benefits for MS patients.
Exercise strengthens the muscles that help you walk. It also eases fatigue, boosts mood, and improves quality of life in people with MS. There's even some evidence that strength training might help slow MS damage in the brain. An exercise program for MS includes 150 minutes of "aerobics" each week.
People with MS can benefit from at least 30 minutes of physical activity at least three days a week. For someone with MS , exercise that's too aggressive can bring on severe fatigue and injury and exacerbate symptoms.
Many MS patients avoid exercise, thinking it will aggravate pain or make their fatigue worse. But research has shown that the opposite is true—exercise can actually improve symptoms, according to Diana Duda, PT, DPT, MSCS.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by your immune system mistakenly attacking the brain and nerves. It's not clear why this happens but it may be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Contents. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance. It's a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability, although it can occasionally be mild.
Pulmonary complications.
MS can weaken the muscles that control the lungs. Such respiratory issues are the major cause of sickness and death in people in the final stages of MS.
When it comes to lifestyle, the advice for people with MS is the same as for everyone – eat healthily, exercise sensibly, try not to drink too much alcohol and don't smoke. Also, listen to people who know about MS. You may encounter a wide range of opinion but use your judgement and choose wisely.
In conclusion, it appears that drinking a moderate amount of caffeine shouldn't have any ill-effect on people with MS.
Overcoming MS strongly recommends that people with MS avoid dairy in their diet because research shows a high correlation between MS and dairy products, because of the high saturated fat content, and specific proteins in cow's milk.
However, long-term or excessive stress can affect your health and may make the symptoms of MS seem worse. Learning to manage your stress in such a way that it does not make life with MS worse is an important part of taking control of your condition.
Resistance training can significantly strengthen weakened muscles caused by MS, as it helps you gain mass while also toning muscles. However, its benefits go beyond the physical, as research has found that resistance training can also help increase the brain's development.
Theracycle is a bike therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Unlike traditional exercise equipment, Theracycle offers a semi-recumbent home exercise bike for MS with unique motor-assisted technology that helps you to perform MS exercises more easily and more effectively.
Effect of MS on Life Span
In the population studied, people with MS had a median life span of 75.9 years, while for people without MS, it was 83.4 years.
As you get older, MS becomes more of a progressive disease. You might notice your MS symptoms start to get worse just as you reach menopause.
A person with benign MS will have few symptoms or loss of ability after having MS for about 15 years, while most people with MS would be expected to have some degree of disability after that amount of time, particularly if their MS went untreated.
MS is not directly inherited from parent to child. There's no single gene that causes it. Over 200 genes might affect your chances of getting MS.
Although more people are being diagnosed with MS today than in the past, the reasons for this are not clear. Likely contributors include greater awareness of the disease, better access to medical care and improved diagnostic capabilities. There is no definitive evidence that the rate of MS is generally on the increase.
MS can occur at any age, but onset usually occurs around 20 and 40 years of age. However, younger and older people can be affected.
Overview. People living with MS often continue working long after their diagnosis. On the flip side, some people with MS decide to leave their jobs when they are first diagnosed or experience their first major exacerbation, often at the suggestion of their family or doctor.
The most important thing: Don't overdo it. No doubt you've heard the sayings "no pain, no gain" or "feel the burn," but that isn't good advice when you have MS. Doing too much can strain your muscles, increase pain, and put too much stress on your body and your mind.
For instance, MS symptoms such as depression, being in pain or by having sleep disturbed by spasms or needing to go to the toilet more often can all make fatigue worse. Fatigue may also occur as a side effect of various medications or be the result of inactivity, stress, poor diet or an infection.