Let us shake peacefully

Hello friends,

I will start by sharing with you an experience I had a few weeks ago at the Weizmann Institute.

I was late to a lecture and there were no more available seats, so I sat on the stairs. In my experience, sitting on the stairs allows me a much larger space of movement than sitting on one of the chairs in the hall, crowded with other people.

After sitting for a few seconds, I spotted an empty chair between two people and moved to sit on it. I immediately felt discomfort, tightness, but felt helpless. If I get up and go back to the stairs, people will think I am a strange person. However, if I stay in my chair I will feel uncomfortable and will not enjoy the lecture. I got up and went back to sit on the stairs and really enjoyed the lecture.

What did I learn from this event?

I prefer to have a wide-open space around me. One of the reasons is that an open space allows me to stretch my arms and legs, and this is a need that I have increasingly had in recent years. In addition, I am under constant social pressure and I don't want to appear unusual. But I'm already unusual with my tremors and stiffness, so why do I continue to insist? Because that's how I grew up. In this case, I was able to deal with the social pressure and do what I prefer - lounging on the stairs.

Why is it important for me to listen to my body's requests?

To answer this, I will dwell for a moment on some rules in the soccer game: a yellow card is a warning card given by the referee to a player who has committed a foul; In case the player continues to commit fouls, the referee can issue a red card, a sentence that removes the player from the game. I feel that I have received a "yellow card" from my body, and now I am moving between the yellow and red cards. It mostly depends on me. In my experience, if I change the way I conduct myself in the world to a more "friendly" way for my body, then the progress towards the red card will slow down.

Is there a biological explanation for my intense desire for an open space?

Before I continue, I will pause again. I am indeed a scientist, but many of the explanations I put forward here are intuitive and do not have, yet, scientific proof. I write "yet" because these understandings give me material for experimental investigation in the laboratory, and perhaps in the future, I or another scientist will discover that a certain understanding is scientifically correct.

Back to the open space. Do you recall my previous blog about the reptilian brain and animal/survival instincts to tremor after freezing? This is probably a “going back” in evolution to a more primitive behavior (back to the familiar? home?). So, my desire for an open space is my body's "desire" to return in evolution from a multicellular to unicellular organism. And unicellular organisms have a lot of space. Freedom of movement. I find that one of the most enjoyable activities for me is movement improvisation. To move the body as I please, like an animal, without instructions from a guide on how to do it.

So, if my body wants to shake so badly, and I allow the shaking, why does freezing/stiffness develop?

So here too, in my opinion, I have a desire to return to the familiar, to home, to a lack of shaking. In the previous blog, I mentioned the shame in the tremor, and my brain is probably busy hiding the tremor to go back to being the "old Atan". So, my brain is "fighting" my body? Is my brain sending signals to my body to freeze, and my body sending signals to my muscles to tremor? Will the release of this flounder slow down the progression of the disease?

When I experience freezing/stiffness, I try to relax my muscles (a pleasant experience), but this requires me to constantly pay attention to my body, and there are stressful situations in which this is not possible. And one more thing: about a year ago I dreamed that I recovered from Parkinson's and woke up with a bad feeling, as if a part of me had been taken away.

Recall the mitochondria? The power plants of our cells?

We talked about the role of the mitochondria in creating the energy needed for fight or flee and about the trapped energy in case of freezing. Do mitochondria also play a role in discharging energy? Is it possible to simulate its activity to that of an electric capacitor? A capacitor is an electrical component that has the ability to store an electrical charge as well as discharge it. It is important not to exceed the maximum voltage of a capacitor in order to avoid damage or even its complete destruction. If mitochondria function as a capacitor, then mitochondrial dysfunction can also result from a defect in its ability to discharge energy and not only from a defect in energy generation.

Is the nervous system of people with Parkinson's unique?

I believe I was born with a condition I will call "pre-Parkinson's". I was born with a nervous system that is more prone to dysfunctions, and therefore requires a personal maintenance. I am a hypersensitive person, and I worked in a highly competitive career - a combination that probably accelerated the development of neurodegeneration. So why did I get Parkinson's and most of my fellow scientists didn't? What do you, the person reading this blog, think? I would love to listen to your opinion, and perhaps this will stimulate an open discussion.

In my next blog I will discuss: Why haven't we found a cure for Parkinson's yet? Why did I decide at this point not to take any medication other than Resagelin? What is mitophagy and its importance for Parkinson's?

Thanks for listening.