Even if you take medication, physical activity helps you better control blood sugar levels, aids in weight reduction, and makes insulin more effective.
Exercise is especially important for people with diabetes, regardless of whether they take medication. In fact, regular physical activity, a healthy diet, and medication form the cornerstones of managing diabetes. Numerous research studies show that people with type 2 diabetes who exercise tend to have blood sugar levels in their target range more often and are in a position to slim down and maintain it more easily than those who don't exercise.
Both of these all-important facets of managing diabetes can help increase the likelihood of delaying or preventing such diabetic complications as cardiac problems, foot and lower-extremity problems, and eye and kidney disease. Individuals with pre-diabetes also reap the same benefits from regular exercise. In addition, regular physical activity
Being active is so beneficial to good diabetes management that Lois Exelbert, registered nurse and administrative director from the Diabetes Center at Baptist Hospital in Miami, Florida, says patients who diligently monitor their blood sugar levels, watch their diet, and take their medicine, yet don't exercise, won't get the same advantages of their treatment. "Without exercise, the other things on the list really don't work very well," Exelbert says.
I have talked with lots of people with diabetes who've added a moderate quantity of physical activity to their day and also have seen improvements in their blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, and outlook on life. Philip was seventy-three when he got diabetes. His doctor put him on Avandia, which helped reduce his blood sugar from 400 mg/dl (22 mmol/l) to 200 mg/dl (11 mmol/l), but Philip wanted to control his blood sugar levels with dieting and exercise alone.
"I started watching things i was eating, and my wife and I began going for a thirty- to forty-five-minute walk most evenings after dinner," he explained. Now Philip is controlling his blood sugar levels without medication and, whenever he doesn't take his walk, notes that his blood sugar levels is greater than usual the following morning.
Mel, a fifty-nine-year-old photographer, finds that his blood sugars happen to be better controlled since he began while using stairs at work rather than the elevator. Ann, a retired schoolteacher, did up from ten-minute to forty-five-minute evening walks together with her husband. They're going 3 or 4 nights per week after dinner, and her A1C level originates down from 8 percent to under 7 percent.
Greg, who got diabetes eight in years past at age thirty-seven, was overweight and headed for a cardiac arrest. He began hiking with his daughter near his Virginia home, shed pounds, and lowered his A1C several points to 5.7 percent! Now every Sunday is restricted to a loving father-daughter hike.
Two of my fellow diabetes peer-coaches, Stephan and Saul, were both one hundred pounds overweight when they were identified as having type 2 diabetes at ages forty-one and fifty-one, respectively. Neither would be a fitness enthusiast, yet both began exercising in an effort to manage their diabetes.
Stephan would be a retired army sergeant but he'd grown slow and sluggish, and at diagnosis his A1C would be a whopping 16 percent! Today he's participated in several triathlons, his A1C is 6.5 percent, and he's regained his former confidence. Stephan says exercise and frequent testing make the biggest differences to his management.
Saul, fearing complications upon diagnosis 15 years ago, vowed to get his blood sugar in the nondiabetic range (an A1C which is between 4 and 6 percent). Saul began riding a bicycle now, at age sixty-nine, rides ninety miles a week, has significantly reduced his medication, has no complications, and has an A1C of 5.3 percent. Saul rides with three bike clubs, one which is really a mentoring program for teenagers, and he says his bike buddies keep him choosing their endless support.
However some people transform themselves from couch potatoes into athletes, it's not necessary for reaping most of the advantages of exercise. Just incorporate more activity into your day with greater regularity: Climb a flight ticket or two of stairs, walk five blocks for any quart of milk instead of taking the car, spend twenty minutes taking a stroll instead of ten, and throw yourself into cleaning the house, understanding how beneficial the physical activity is for your heart, your weight, and your blood sugar levels.
Gary Scheiner, a workout physiologist (a professional specifically trained in how exercise interacts using the body's structure and function) says not only does fitness improve our diabetes health, but that any activity that improves overall fitness - even if it's undertaken in small steps - also motivates individuals to take better care of themselves and their diabetes.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Articleinput.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
Note: This article was sent to us by: Allene Cunningham at 02152011
1. How do muscles work when we engage in physical exercise
All articles are property of their respective authors. Please read our Privacy Policy!
© 2009 ArticleInput.com.
Partners: Damenmode