Appreciate your thoughts, Chris. I’d love to come up with something or someone to blame.
When I had a heart attack in 2017, it was easy to point to a lousy diet and a sedentary lifestyle as probable causes.
Parkinson’s is a tougher one to pin down for me — was it the chemicals sprayed all over St. Louis when i was a kid? That concussion I got in high school wrestling? The dry cleaner down the block from my house in New York when I was in my 20’s? Living close to a Portland golf course for 30 years? One of my radio co-workers also has PD — was there something in the water at the station?
I will never know, so I don’t spend (much) time thinking about the cause unless I need a topic for a blog post. More interesting to me are steps I can take to slow Parkinson’s down until they come up with a cure.
I completely agree that while asking “why” can be useful, especially for researchers, it can also become a loop with no exit. I think your point is the key: it’s more productive to ask “what now?” rather than “what if?” — and focus on the things we can do to slow the progression and improve our day-to-day. And if those questions spark a good blog post along the way, even better.
Appreciate your thoughts, Chris. I’d love to come up with something or someone to blame.
When I had a heart attack in 2017, it was easy to point to a lousy diet and a sedentary lifestyle as probable causes.
Parkinson’s is a tougher one to pin down for me — was it the chemicals sprayed all over St. Louis when i was a kid? That concussion I got in high school wrestling? The dry cleaner down the block from my house in New York when I was in my 20’s? Living close to a Portland golf course for 30 years? One of my radio co-workers also has PD — was there something in the water at the station?
I will never know, so I don’t spend (much) time thinking about the cause unless I need a topic for a blog post. More interesting to me are steps I can take to slow Parkinson’s down until they come up with a cure.
I completely agree that while asking “why” can be useful, especially for researchers, it can also become a loop with no exit. I think your point is the key: it’s more productive to ask “what now?” rather than “what if?” — and focus on the things we can do to slow the progression and improve our day-to-day. And if those questions spark a good blog post along the way, even better.
Appreciate your perspective, Phil.
Well put, Chris.
Hang in there.