Type 2 Diabetes And Physical Activity: Why Is Exercise So Important? | Lymphatic & Endocrine system articles | Body & Health Conditions center

Type 2 diabetes is a disease that is largely influenced by lifestyle factors. Therefore, doctors will recommend making lifestyle modifications as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, which include losing weight, eating healthier and exercising more.

Physical activity, in particular, is an important part of your treatment plan and is necessary for managing your diabetes. If you become and stay active throughout your life, you will able to control your blood sugar levels much better and prevent long-term complications.

So, why is exercise so important for managing diabetes?

Exercising and staying active have several benefits for patients with type 2 diabetes. To understand why exercise is important, we need to first understand how type 2 diabetes develops.

The body uses glucose — a byproduct of carbohydrate metabolism — as a source of energy. When people consume carbohydrates, their blood sugar levels rise. In order for the cells to be able to use glucose, they need a hormone known as insulin. In patients with type 2 diabetes, the cells become resistant to the effects of insulin, causing cells to no longer be able to absorb and use glucose as an energy source. Hence, patients with diabetes have high levels of glucose in the blood, which leads to several long-term complications.

The benefits of physical activity come in because exercising makes controlling your blood sugar levels much easier. Exercise encourages your muscle cells to absorb glucose from your blood, reducing your blood glucose levels. This is because muscles don’t need insulin to absorb glucose when you exercise. Therefore, if you are type 2 diabetic, your muscles will take in glucose despite the fact that your cells are insulin resistant. Additionally, studies have shown that exercise makes your insulin more effective at its job and that your insulin resistance decreases when you exercise.

Other benefits of exercise for patients with type 2 diabetes include:

Exercise helps patients avoid long-term complications such as heart problems.
Exercise helps you maintain normal cholesterol levels. Additionally, exercise helps increase levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol.
Exercise helps you lose weight, another factor that can help patients manage their diabetes.
Exercise helps lower your blood pressure
Exercise helps gives you stronger bones.
Patients who exercise have more energy and a better mood.
Exercise helps patients sleep better.
Exercise helps with stress management.

How do I start exercising?

It’s hard for many people with type 2 diabetes to start exercising because many are overweight and have led a sedentary lifestyle for a very long time. This ca make exercise a daunting idea. Hence, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor and come up with a reasonable exercise plan with achievable goals. Another thing you can do is hire a fitness trainer who has experience in working with "exercise noobs" who may have health issues.

Before you start, your doctor can check how healthy your heart is, as that is important when it comes to exercising. If you have complications that can affect your ability to exercise, your doctor can refer you to an exercise physiologist or an experienced physiotherapist who can figure out an exercise plan with you.

If you are a beginner at exercising, you should start off slowly and gradually increase the intensity and duration of your workouts. These are some tips for patients who are starting out exercising for the first time:

Stay hydrated by drinking water regularly.
Many diabetic patients experience low glucose when exercising (since muscles take up glucose), so it is important to keep a glucose-heavy snack ready.
Check your blood sugar levels using a glucose meter before and after your exercise.

What types of exercise should I do?

In general, there are three main types of exercise, including aerobic exercise, strength training, and flexibility work. You should try to incorporate all three types of exercises into your regimen.

Aerobic exercises

You should try to get 30 minutes or more of aerobic exercise most days a week. If you can’t do 30 minutes in a row, you can break it up to 10 minute segments three times a day. Aerobic exercise includes common physical activities such as walking, running, tennis, hiking, swimming, and biking. However, many different activities would count as aerobic exercise. For example, taking a walk at lunch, talking your dog out for a walk, biking with your friends, playing basketball and other, more fun activities. You need to have fun when you do aerobic exercise or else you won’t want to do it.

Strength training

Strength training helps give you lean and efficient muscles. This is especially important for type 2 diabetics — the more efficient your muscles, the more glucose they will use; and the more glucose they use, the better controlled your diabetes will be. Examples of strength training include pull-ups, push-ups and using weight-training equipment. If you don’t know how to use the equipment, make sure to ask the staff at the gym or get a personal trainer. You should try to weight lift for 20 to 30 minutes, two or three times a week.

Flexibility work

Flexibility exercise helps improve your muscles' ability to work well. Stretching is an example of flexibility work that helps reduce muscle soreness and relaxes them.

Conclusion

Once you have started exercising, you have won half the battle. The other half would, of course, be sticking with it. If you manage to keep up your exercise plan, your health will thank you and you'll be able to minimize the risk of long-term complications.