Important Facts You Should Know

“There are 57 million people in the United States who have pre-diabetes. Recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during pre-diabetes”

Source:
American diabetes Association. 2008. How to Prevent or Delay Diabetes

“Just 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity, coupled with a 5-10% reduction in body weight, produced a 58% reduction in diabetes

Source:
American diabetes Association. 2008. How to Prevent or Delay Diabetes

Top 10 Benefits For Diabetic or Pre-Diabetic Individuals Being Active

1. Improve blood glucose management. Activity makes your body more sensitive to the insulin you make. Activity also burns glucose (calories). Both actions lower blood glucose.
2. Lower blood pressure. Activity helps your heart pump stronger and slower.
3. Improve blood fats. Exercise can raise good cholesterol (HDL) and lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides. These changes are heart healthy.
4. Take less insulin or diabetes pills. Activity can lower blood glucose and weight. Both of these may lower how much insulin or diabetes pills you need to take.
5. Lose weight and keep it off. Activity burns calories. If you burn enough calories, you’ll trim a few pounds. Stay active and you’ll keep the weight off.
6. Lower risk for other health problems. Reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke, some cancers, and bone loss.
7. Gain more energy and sleep better. You’ll get better sleep in less time and have more energy, too.
8. Relieve stress. Work out or walk off daily stress.
9. Build stronger bones and muscles. Weight-bearing activities, such as walking, make bones stronger. Strength-training activities, such as lifting light weights (or even cans of beans), make muscles strong.
10. Be more flexible. Move easier when you are active.

Source:
American Diabetes Association

Fitness Impacts Diabetics More Than Fatness

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with type 2 diabetes may be able to improve their health-related quality of life by getting fit, new research shows.

Dr. Wendy L. Bennett, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and her colleagues investigated whether reduced fitness or increased fatness account for the decrease in health-related quality of life seen in type 2 diabetics.

The researchers looked at people participating in two clinical trials of exercise for high blood pressure — one included 119 people with type 2 diabetes and the other included 98 participants without type 2 diabetes.

The diabetic study participants did indeed have a worse health-related quality of life than the individuals without diabetes. In particular, they were more likely to report limitations due to physical problems, low vitality, and poor general health, the researchers report in the online journal Health and
Quality of Life Outcomes.

Cardiovascular fitness was strongly associated with the risk of poor quality of life in diabetic patients. Fatness played less of a role, but it did still have an influence.

However, the negative impact of type 2 diabetes on health-related quality of life could not be completely explained by diabetic individuals’ greater fatness and worse fitness.

Nonetheless, the investigators conclude, people with type 2 diabetes might be advised that “incorporating physical activity into their daily routine improves fitness, allows them to do more, feel better, as well as reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes-related complications.”

Source:
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, online December 4, 2008.

A Little Bit of Exercise Goes a Long Way

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects over 28 million Americans, according to the American Diabetes Association. Much research points to the fact that being overweight can seriously increase one’s risk of diabetes. However, being unfit may be even more dangerous for people with diabetes. A group of researchers from John Hopkins University set out to determine whether fitness or body weight has the most impact on people with diabetes.

The subjects were a group of 217 people, some with diabetes and some without. All participants completed a treadmill test to assess fitness, a body composition test and a health-related quality of life survey that determined factors such as vitality, physical function and general health. Researchers analyzed the results and found that lower levels of fitness were significantly more detrimental to health-related quality of life of people with diabetes than was being overweight.

Source:
IHRSA Health eReview; Volume 6, Issue 3