Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes

  • For those with impaired glucose tolerance (sometimes called prediabetes), diet and physical activity improvements can be as effective to prevent progression to diabetes as medication [Gillies et al, 2007]
  • In patients with diabetes meeting the hba1c-parecommended weekly activity levels of physical activity (150 min/week) is associated with a 7mmol/mol reduction in HbA1c [Umpierre et al., 2011]
  • Physical activity also reduces [Umpierre et al., 2011] :
    • visceral fat volume
    • cholesterol
  • Exercise programs are associated with a 39% increase in muscle strength in elderly patients [Brandon et al, 2003]
  • Fitness, an independent prognostic marker of death [Myers et al., 2002], improves by up to 11% following exercise programs [Boule et al., 2003].

interval-walking

  • As little as 10 sessions of “interval walking” (alternating fast walking with slow walking) is able to produce significant changes in blood sugar control whereas continuous walking for the same period had no effect [Karsoft et al, 2017].
References
Brandon, L.J., Gaasch, D.A., Boyette, L.W. and Lloyd, A.M., 2003. Effects of long-term resistive training on mobility and strength in older adults with diabetes. Journals of Gerontology Series a-Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 58(8), pp. 740-745.
Gillies, C., Abrams, K., Lambert, P., Cooper, N., Sutton, A., Hsu, R., Khunti, K. (2007) Pharmacological and lifestyle interventions to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people with impaired glucose tolerance: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 334:299
Karsoft, K., Clark, M., Jakobsen, I., Muller, Pedersen, B., Solomon, T., Ried-Larsen, M. (2017) The effects of 2 weeks of interval vs continuous walking training on glycaemic control and whole-body oxidative stress in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a controlled, randomised, crossover trial. Diabetologia 60: 508.
Myers, J., Prakash, M., Froelicher, V., Do, D., Partington, S. and Atwood, J.E., 2002. Exercise capacity and mortality among men referred for exercise testing. New England Journal of Medicine, 346(11), pp. 793-801.
Umpierre, D., Ribeiro, P.A.B., Kramer, C.K., Leitao, C.B., Zucatti, A.T.N., Azevedo, M.J., Gross, J.L., Ribeiro, J.P. and Schaan, B.D., 2011. Physical Activity Advice Only or Structured Exercise Training and Association With HbA(1c) Levels in Type 2 Diabetes A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Jama-Journal of the American Medical Association, 305(17), pp. 1790-1799.