Fight Type 2 Diabetes With Healthy Workout
By: Lynda Arbon
Tags: All About Health, Diabetes, Fitness, Workout, Health

Diabetes is a widespread disease. Among the two primary types of diabetes, type 1 is seen more in children and adolescents, while type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, attacking adults.

Stats show about 463 million adults diagnosed with diabetes worldwide. Doctors fear that this number will rise approximately up to 700 million by 2045. Diabetes is found mostly in people aged between 40 -59. Type-1 diabetes is found in almost 1.1 million children and adolescents.

The need for a disciplined approach to ward off the dangers of diabetes

If you are diagnosed with diabetes, then you have to maintain a strict low sugar diet. You may also need medicines like oral drugs or insulin injections to keep the blood glucose in check.

Diabetes also makes the body vulnerable to many other diseases. That is why diabetes patients must pay close attention to their health. You will be glad to know that you can control your blood glucose through other ways than drugs. Exercising is extremely beneficial to control diabetes. It keeps you fit, and healthy helps to resist disease and improves mental health also.

How Does Exercise Help?

Diabetes is often triggered mainly by obesity, and not exercising enough leads to obesity. In such cases, workouts can help you significantly to lower body weight and also decrease insulin resistance. Doctors often prescribe workouts and an active lifestyle to control diabetes, along with medicine.

Exercise can lower your blood sugar in two ways. Firstly, it increases insulin tolerance. It means your body will be able to better use the insulin already present in your body to absorb the blood glucose, thus bringing down the blood glucose levels. Secondly, exercise can activate and stimulate other bodily mechanisms that enable your muscles to intake the blood sugar without insulin. Apart from that, exercise can also lower the A1C level in your blood.

As already mentioned, diabetes also makes the patient prone to long term diseases like eye problems, feet issues, and heart problems. Diabetes can cause blocked arteries, which may result in a stroke. Regular workouts help to maintain proper cholesterol levels in the blood, and that way, you can avoid severe cardiovascular complications.

Other than that, exercise also helps to keep your mind fresh and active, which in turn helps to keep your body active and healthy. Exercising comes with all the other additional benefits like weight loss lowers blood pressure, strengthens bones, gives energy, improves mood, and manages stress and anxiety, better sleep, strengthens muscles, etc.

What Type of Exercise can you do?

You can do many types of exercises, like strength training, aerobic, and flexibility exercises. Let’s take a look at how these can help you:

1. Aerobic exercises

You can join aerobics or Zumba classes to get plenty of aerobics exercises. Alternatively, you can go jogging or running. Going for a morning walk or evening walk is also beneficial to health.

However, people who have diabetes find it difficult to attend classes every day, primarily due to a lack of motivation. It’s here that Group fitness classes can help them. These groups sessions are an excellent way to indulge in workouts without a drop in motivation to make it to the gym studio. These exercises will keep you healthy, strong, and active.

It is best to do these exercises for at least 30 minutes every day. Try not to skip the routine. If you cannot do 30 minutes at a stretch, you can do smaller 10 minutes sessions spread over the day. Try to increase this time as per your comfort level.

2. Strength training

Another great way to control your diabetes is to do strength training. You can join a good gym near your house and do some weight training. It will help you to lose weight and build up muscle.

As the muscles get strengthened, they will have better absorption of glucose. There are many techniques you can try out. You can do push-ups, planks, or lift the weight on some equipment. Your gym instructor or personal trainer can guide you for a personalized training program. Try to do these workouts at least for 20–30 minutes twice or thrice a week. Such expert assistance will help you meet your fitness goals faster.

3. Flexibility exercises

In flexibility-training, you can do exercises that improve muscle and joint strength to make them more active. These exercises can have a long-term positive effect, so you need to be persistent in continuing these routines for some weeks before you start noticing the results. Not only will you lose weight, but also your insulin and glucose level will be balanced effectively.

A few tips

Before you start exercising, here are a few tips that you can follow.

First, make a routine and try to stick to it. It is better to do something you enjoy. If you enjoy it, it will be easier to stay motivated. Keep a log to track your routine and blood sugar level.

Second, drink a lot of water before, during, and after exercising. Drinking water, in general, helps the body in various ways. It is essential to stay hydrated during exercise.

Third, don’t stress yourself. You can start slow. You can start with a 10 minutes session and slowly increase the time limit. But do not give up.

Fourth, when you are exercising, breathe easily. Holding your breath can disturb your blood pressure, and you will feel dizzy.

Fifth, consult your doctor. If you have any other physical condition, long term disease, your doctor can tell you accurately precisely what type of exercise is suitable for you and how much you should do it.

Final Word

Start exercising today, and you will see the benefit reflected in your blood glucose test report within a few months. The beginning might seem a bit tough, but as you keep going at it, you will start feeling habituated to the routine. The trick is to remain motivated for long through measures like opting for group exercise classes so that you don’t skip on the sessions.