Exercise and Diabetes
Managing blood glucose levels is very important for type 2 diabetics.
Learning to eat healthy, reduce stress and exercise are a few ways you can help manage your health.
There are many benefits to exercise including promoting weight loss, relieving stress, reducing certain medical risks like heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol just to name a few.
Benefits of Exercise for Diabetics
Part of understanding exercise and diabetes is knowing the benefits of being active.Exercise can help you fight this disease and lower your blood sugar levels.
Exercise is a well known benefit for type 2 diabetics.
Exercise can bring you many benefits that will help you not only manage your blood glucose levels, but make you healthier.
It can minimize risks of certain medical conditions.
Here are even more ways regular workouts help you get fit and healthy;
- Promotes Weight Loss
- Improves the body’s use of insulin
- Relieves Stress
Helps Blood Glucose Levels
Insulin is used to lower the blood sugar levels and increases the amount of glucagon in the liver. The glucagon slowly increases the blood sugar levels if it falls too low.
However, for people with type 2 diabetes, the amount of insulin released is either insufficient or the body does not process them correctly.
Exercise
can help lower your blood sugar levels when the insulin
cannot making exercise and diabetes important. When you exercise your body needs extra energy for the muscles.
This energy comes from glucose in your system.
When you do short bursts of activity like a quick sprint to the car the muscles and the liver release stored glucose for fuel.
With extended exercise like a brisk 20 to 45 minute walk or some structured exercise routine, your muscles takes glucose up to 20 times more than the normal amount.
This in turn helps to lower your blood sugar levels.
Intense workouts can have just the opposite effect and instead of lowering the sugar levels it can actually increase blood glucose levels.
This is something to keep in mind when planning exercise and diabetes management.
Because intense workouts are seen as a “stress” by the body, your body will release stress hormones.
This stress hormone causes the body to increase the available blood glucose to help fuel the muscles.
So if you are doing a strenuous workout, be sure to check your blood sugar levels after your workout.
If your blood glucose levels are extremely high, wait to exercise at a later time when the levels are more stable.
Types of Exercise
Any exercise will help you manage your blood glucose levels whether it be strength training or aerobics.Including both types of workouts for your exercise and diabetes control is not only a great way to help lower blood sugar, you will also get the benefits of burning calories and toning muscles.
Strength Training
Strength training will help you build stronger muscles and bones but has also shown to help manage Type 2 Diabetes.
In a study of Hispanic men and women who performed strength training for 16 weeks results showed significant improvements in glucose control.
In fact the results were similar to taking diabetes medication. Not only did the participants see positive results in their blood sugar levels, they felt healthier, lost body fat, were less depressed and felt more confident.
Aerobic Exercises
Aerobic exercises not only help Type 2 Diabetics manage their diabetes, it has also been shown to reduce the risk of getting diabetes.
For people prone to diabetes, establishing a healthy eating plan and a regular exercise routine can help prevent getting this disease.
Aerobic exercises are those workouts that get your heart pumping and your body moving. You can walk, jog, swim, dance…..or just about anything you enjoy that will get you moving
When to Exercise
Before you start on your exercise and diabetes workout
routines, first discuss it with your
doctor.
You want to ensure you select a workout that’s right for you and your
situation.
You should have a set routine where you exercise
at the same time.
Eat your meals at approximately the same time as well as take your
medication at the same time each day.
Talk this over with your doctor to determine if any adjustments are
needed to your medication. You should also avoid exercising
when your medicine is reaching the end of its peak
effectiveness.
If you plan to participate in a strenuous
exercise or you exercise for periods lasting longer than 3 hours, check
with your doctor as your medication may need to be adjusted for these
types of exercises.
Be sure to pick exercises that work best for you and that you can
perform in order to stick with your exercise routine. Start
out slow and build up your strength and endurance and before you know
it, exercising will be just another part of your daily
routine.
With the right meal plan, medication (if needed) and
exercise you can manage your diabetes.
Exercise and Diabetics Tips
Starting any exercise routine for anybody should be taken slowly at first if you are not used to exercising. For diabetics this is no different.Here are some quick exercise and diabetes tips to help you get active.
Make it Fun
Pick something you will enjoy so that you are more likely to stick to your exercise routine.
Be Comfortable
Make sure you are comfortable during your workout. Have the right exercise apparel and shoes.
Warm up
Always warm up your muscles before you start your workout by simply walking or marching in place for about 5 minutes.
Stretch
After your warm up and after your workout you should always stretch your muscles to prevent injury.
Cool Down
Cooling down after your workout is just as important as warming up. Cool down by slowing down your exercise and keep moving at a slower pace until your heart beat is back to normal.
Check out these other exercise tips to help you with exercise and diabetes.
Additional Articles
Stress
and Diabetes
Finding ways to manage your stress is important to manage blood glucose
levels.
Diabetes
Find out more about diabetes, symptoms and types.
Diabetic Diet
Learn more about diabetic diets and how to build the perfect meal plan
for you.