What is Living with Intent
November 15, 2020
For people with Parkinson’s, “live with intent” is a critical concept to living well with the disease.
There are automatic movements and an intentional movements. Automatic movements are dopamine dependent and become more impaired as dopamine is depleted throughout the Parkinson’s disease process. This means that automatic movements are no longer automatic. Movement is still possible, just not as automatically.
Intentional movements do not rely on dopamine and remain relatively intact with Parkinson’s disease. This means that people with Parkinson’s can learn to use purposeful focus on initiating/executing movement. For example, if a person with Parkinson’s walks with intention and purposefully focuses on taking big steps, their steps will be bigger, better, and more controlled. If they speak with intention and purposefully focus on their speech, they will articulate more clearly and precisely.
The concept of doing things with intent relates to any motor task. People with Parkinson’s can greatly improve their movement and speech by working it intentionally! That is why we are committed to helping people with Parkinson’s live with intent.
Donate to our Give with Intent campaign from December 1st- December 31st to support the programs that are helping people with Parkinson’s live with intent across Nebraska.