Exercise and Diabetes
Exercise is key to good health with diabetes
The human body is a smoothly functioning food processor, transforming sugar, starches and other components of your diet into energy – the energy you need to perform the daily tasks of life (sitting, walking, lifting, etc.) For those who suffer from diabetes, the transformation of foodstuffs into energy does not occur in as nearly an effective manner due to problems with insulin.
Insulin is a hormone, which is produced by the pancreas. Insulin plays an essential role in helping transport glucose (blood sugar) into the cells where it can be changed into energy.
Although the exact cause of diabetes is unknown, what is known is that the body of a diabetic either does not produce enough insulin or it cannot properly use the insulin it does make.
These two circumstances constitute the two major forms of diabetes – Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes and Type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes. Type I, also referred to as juvenile diabetes, occurs most often in children and young adults.
Type II, sometimes referred to as maturity-onset diabetes, usually occurs in adults over 40 years of age who are overweight. Of the two forms of diabetes, Type II is far more common – accounting for about 90% of all of the victims of this chronic disease.
Because their bodies cannot properly handle glucose, all diabetics suffer from an elevated level of blood sugar (hyperglycemia) – a condition that occurs when glucose levels in the blood build up and sugar spills over into the bloodstream and the urine.
The potential repercussions are enormous. More than 150,000 Americans die annually from diabetes and its complications. Not surprisingly, diabetes has also been shown to increase the likelihood of suffering from heart disease, stroke, gangrene, kidney disease and a serious eye disorder called retinopathy.
Diabetes, for example, increases the risk of heart disease by a factor of 2 to 4 and your chances of suffering a stroke by a factor of 2 to 6. In addition, diabetes is the number one cause of adult blindness in the United States – resulting in more than 5,000 new cases of blindness annually.
Exercise Can Help
Exercise can have a significant effect not only in helping diabetics control their disease and reducing their risk to its life-threatening complications, but also in greatly decreasing an individuals chances of developing the disease in the first place.
In fact, research shows that exercise reduces an individual’s likelihood of developing diabetes by more than half – including people who either are obese or are genetically predisposed to the disease.
Furthermore, in a major study at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers found that expending an additional 500 calories per week through exercise can reduce the risk of developing diabetes be 6%.
Exercise also can help those individuals who contract diabetes. Among the beneficial aspects of exercise that are either directly or indirectly related to diabetes are: lowering excess blood sugar levels (by helping transport glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells where it can be used), strengthening the muscles and the heart, improving circulation (thereby increasing blood flow to the body’s organs), and reducing stress.
indicates that collectively the aforementioned benefits of exercise can have a positive impact on the risk of developing primary complications associated with diabetes – heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, nerve damage, blindness and impotence.
In addition, exercise can also help reduce the necessity for the circulatory-related amputations, which are related to the disease.
Finally, exercise helps individuals reduce excess weight – the reason many of them may have developed Type II diabetes in the first place.
