Exercise & Diabetes The Added Benefit of Exercise in People with Diabetes All of us are aware that exercise can help prevent
serious complications that often come with diabetes and heart disease. Research has shown that regular exercise helps reduce
likelihood of having a heart attack or a stroke, and moreover it aids in weight loss, & improving one's mood.
But do you know that exercise can also help you reduce your blood glucose levels? That's right. In people with type II diabetes, exercise may improve insulin sensitivity and assist in lowering elevated blood glucose levels into
normal range.
Here's how. When you exercise, your body uses more oxygen -- as much as 20 times more -- and even more in
working muscles, than when you are at rest. So
muscles use more glucose to meet their increased energy needs.
At
same time, exercise improves
action of insulin in
peripheral muscles, making it more efficient, so you get more out of
insulin your body is producing.
In older people with diabetes,
decrease in insulin sensitivity that comes with aging is also partly due to a lack of physical activity. So regular exercise benefits you now, and for years to come.