The Fox Focus 2020 Fall/Winter | Page 9

Fall / Winter 2020 | Fox Insight 7

The three most common of these were freezing of gait , apathy and memory problems .

While fatigue is primarily measured as a physical symptom in the doctor ’ s office , our Fox Insight survey showed that people with Parkinson ’ s experienced its cognitive and emotional impact as well . For example , some participants reported feeling overwhelmed ( like everything requires a lot of effort ), while others reported not wanting to do anything or feeling isolated . And while many reported exercise as a trigger for fatigue , nearly half reported that physical activity improved their fatigue . Other triggers were poor sleep and a busy schedule and participants managed fatigue by sitting quietly ( e . g ., watching television , listening to music , reading ), laying down and sleeping .

The study points to the importance of hearing directly from people who live with Parkinson ’ s and the need for open and ongoing dialogue with doctors and researchers , as well as a need for more comprehensive tools to measure symptoms .

More analyses continue to emerge from the study , which was supported by the Parkinson ’ s Disease Education Consortium , an alliance of biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms that share MJFF ’ s commitment to furnishing high-quality educational resources for the Parkinson ’ s community .