Exercise Intensity, Glycaemic Control, and the Diabetic
For individuals with diabetes, regular exercise is one of the top ways they are recommended to help cope with their condition. Performing exercise on a regular basis can help keep their bodyweight under control, which is a significant factor influencing the severity of their condition, can keep blood pressure down, and can help moderate blood sugar levels.
It’s important for those with diabetes to be especially careful with their carbohydrate intake around the workout period because they are at an increased risk for experiencing a severe blood sugar level crash, but provided they have help from their doctor with this most can adjust their intake accordingly.
When it comes to the exercise portion of the equation, just how intense does the exercise need to be to be beneficial?
That’s what some researchers out of the University of Brussel in Belgium wanted to assess. The aim of their study was to look at the impact of exercise intensity on lowering blood HbA(1c) levels in type 2 diabetic patients who were classified as currently obese.
The study was set-up so that 6 months of continuous low to moderate exercise was performed and then compared with moderate to high intensity exercise for the same period of time. Both types of exercise sessions were matched in terms of energy expenditure, therefore it was only the actual intensity that differed between the trials.
These exercise sessions either consisted of 55 minutes, 3 times a week at 50% of their whole body peak oxygen uptake, or 40 minutes at 75% of this value.
After the exercise was completed, oral glucose tolerance, blood glycated haemoglobin, lipid profile, body composition, maximal workload capacity, and whole body and skeletal muscle oxidative capacity was assessed.
The results of the study demonstrated that after the 6 month time period no differences were demonstrated between groups, with both groups showing reduce blood glycated haemoglobin levels, decreased LDL-cholesterol concentrations, lowered body weight and leg fat mass, and increased muscle mass.
So, from this study we can conclude that if you are suffering from diabetes and are overweight looking to get in shape, don’t think that you have to be working at an extremely high intensity to reap benefits. You can definitely get great results from a more moderate exercise program which will likely be a lot more comfortable for you to get started with.
Even for individuals without diabetes, any form of exercise will have health benefits, so don’t let a fear of exercise being a painful process prevent you from getting started. Work your way into it in a manner you’re comfortable with and enjoy the health benefits as you go along.
Reference:
Berger, J. et al. (2009) Continuous low-to-moderate intensity exercise training is as effective as moderate-to-high-intensity exercise training at lowering blood HbA(1c) in obese type 2 diabetes patients.
Post by: Shannon-Clark