Benefits of exercise for type 2 diabetes 

The government recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day to promote good health for everyone. People with type 2 diabetes have more reason than most to keep active and take regular exercise, because it reduces their risk of complications and helps manage their diabetes.

Exercise is very important in managing type 2 diabetes. It helps control your weight and blood sugar level and has an additional positive effect when combined with a healthy diet and diabetes medications.

Exercise helps to control type 2 diabetes by:

• Helping the insulin you produce to work more effectively by improving insulin sensitivity.
• Burn more fat than muscle by combining diet with exercise when dieting to lose weight. More body fat is associated with greater insulin resistance and more muscle means that you consume more glucose and are better able to bring your blood sugar down.
• Lowering blood pressure.
• Helping to protect against heart and blood vessel disease by lowering ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and increasing ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.
• Improving blood circulation and reducing your risk of heart disease.
• Reducing markers of metabolic syndrome.
• Reducing triglycerides.
• Reducing stress, promoting relaxation and releasing tension and anxiety.

What type of exercise? 

Strength Training 

This means performing exercises with weights or against resistance. You don’t have to join a gym; you can use bottles of water or your own body weight.

People with type 2 diabetes should include strength training in their exercise programme because it improves blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity due to its effect on the muscles. Strength training can improve your quality of life by allowing you to continue to perform everyday activities such as walking, lifting and climbing stairs as you get older. Strength training can also help reduce your risk of osteoporosis, fractures and fall injuries by improving bone density. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that people with type 2 diabetes start a strength training programme to help with blood sugar control.

Aerobic Fitness and Type 2 Diabetes  

Any activity that raises your heart rate and keeps it up for an extended period of time will improve your aerobic fitness. Aerobic exercise helps decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes and helps those with diabetes to better manage their blood sugar levels.

Look at the All About Weight exercise pages for ideas for getting active.

References 

Thomas D, Elliott EJ, Naughton GA. Exercise for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD002968. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002968.pub2.

Kirwan JP, Solomon TP, Wojta DM, Staten MA, Holloszy JO (2009) Effects of 7 days of exercise training on insulin sensitivity and responsiveness in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Am J Physiology and Endocrinology Metabolism Jul; 297(1):E151-6. Epub 2009 Apr 21.

Verónica M et al. (2010) Intervention with education and exercise reverses the metabolic syndrome in adults. Journal of the American Society of Hypertension Volume 4, Issue 3, May-June 2010, Pages 148-153.

Weltman, NY, Meda, SA Saliba, EJB (2009) The Use of Exercise in the Management of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Clinics in Sports Medicine Volume 28, Issue 3, July 2009, Pages 423-439.

Walker KZ, O’Dea K, Gomez M, Girgis S, Colagiuri R (2010) Diet and exercise in the prevention of diabetes. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 2010 Mar 23.

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