We had all hoped that we were going to be done with COVID by now. Things were definitely improving here in Southern California. Life was starting to look like normal. And now we are faced with the Omicron variant. Most reports say that the symptoms are mild and vaccine makers are already at worker on a booster for Omicron. Let’s hope that we don’t have to endure more shutdowns and isolation moving forward into the new year.

Because things are unfortunately not going to to normal quite yet, those of us with Parkinson’s need to continue to find ways to live as normal a life as possible. That means eating a good diet – tough to follow during the holidays, but we swear we will get back on track in the new year.

We need to exercise at least 150 minutes a week. Here are some recommendations from the Parkinsons Foundation website for exercise:

• Aerobic activity: 3 days a week for at least 30 minute per session of continuous or intermittent movement at moderate or vigorous intensity
• Strength training: 2-3 non-consecutive days per week of at least 30 minutes per session for 10-15 repos for major muscle groups; resistance, speed, or power focus
• Balance, agility and multitasking: 2-3 days per week with daily integration if possible
• Stretching: 2-3 days per week with daily stretching being most effective

And of course, taking our medications as prescribed, finding ways to relax through meditation and mindfulness, and getting enough sleep. But probably the most important thing is to spend time with friends and family enjoying the holiday season, whether in person or online, masked or unmasked. Just do it in whatever way makes you comfortable.

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LSVT Global and Google need you for Project Euphonia

Everyone with Parkinson’s is invited to join us for the last Sunday Mornings with Twitchy Woman program of 2021.

December 12 LSVT Global and the Google Project at 1:00 PM EST, 10:00 AM PST

Lori Ramig, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, will join us to talk about Project Euphonia, a partnership between LSVT Global and Google. This exciting research project aims to help improve automatic speech recognition software for people with speech disorders. These disorders may make using devices like Google Home, The Nest and other Smart devices, Siri, Alexa, or speech-to-text frustrating. To do this, they need samples of disordered speech to train the system. LSVT Global is recruiting people with speech disorders to help!

For more information see the flyer below.

Register here.

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A Few Travel Tips for the Holidays

If you are traveling for the holidays, please be careful and enjoy spending time with your loved ones or just getting away from it all. If you are having any difficulty traveling, don’t hesitate to ask for early boarding on a plane or train. Let someone else carry your bags for you and make it as stress free as possible. Make sure that you have packed all of your meds in one place in a carry-on bag as well as all of your charging cords for your devices. Most of all, have a wonderful time wherever your travels take you.

Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate it!