As of 2020, over 35 million Americans have diabetes and at least 88 million others have symptoms of pre-diabetes. The cumulative medical costs that are related to the chronic condition have exploded to 327 billion annually. The benefits of exercise on diabetes is immense and need to be taken seriously by millions of Americans and people worldwide.
These are worrying statistics that spark many questions about what is happening in the current health world. For anyone with diabetes or almost any other disease, the benefits of exercise cannot be underrated.
Exercise helps lower blood pressure, control weight, raise healthy HDL cholesterol, minimize harmful LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, reduce anxiety, strengthen bones and muscles, and enhance general well-being.
Benefits of Exercise on Diabetes
There are more benefits for anyone with diabetes; exercise reduces glucose levels in the blood and boosts the body’s sensitivity to insulin which counters insulin resistance. Moreover, exercise is considered to be a transforming pill that comes without any side effects.
Although exercise is normally seen to help in diabetes prevention, not many patients with the disease engage in the recommended level of physical activity. In the United States, only 40% of diabetes patients engage in exercise therapy which just 28.2% of them achieve the recommended physical activity levels.
Physical activity is proven to play an integral role in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes but many people with this chronic disease are not regularly active. Although the data from that survey is a small percentage of the general population, it reflects an expensive predicament in modern-day society.
Health and wellness education has evolved among media platforms recently. But, patients and susceptible people are still failing to meet the call. The data from the study should not be depressing and is not meant to instill any fear.
In reality, many barriers prohibit people with chronic conditions from exercising and it is not their fault. Society should inspire a message of hope and the experts should simplify exercises to make them attractive.
The Reality
The future is bright for those who are serious about fighting chronic diseases with physical activity.
Exercise is the diabetes medication that is free if you administer it correctly. But, it is a part of a bigger puzzle that also includes proper nutrition, sleep, and stress management practices.
All these factors must be considered to minimize the prevalence of the chronic disease. Always speak to health professionals before starting exercise regimes to ensure that you are doing it correctly.
Many benefits are associated with exercising your body.
In the field of chronic disease, exercise helps in the:
· improvement of blood glucose control
· prevention of type 2 diabetes
· decreasing the rate of cardiovascular events · increase of mitochondrial biogenesis
· lowering of blood pressure
· positively affecting lipid levels
Beyond all these factors, there is a physiological mechanism that is outstanding. Doctors say that exercise can work nearly as powerful as insulin in regards to diabetes.
The Exercise Pill While resting, regulation of muscle glucose uptake relies mainly on the insulin hormone. The uptake happens through GLUT 4 transporters. These transporters carry glucose out of the bloodstream. In the case of type 2 diabetes, there is a mismanagement of blood glucose as a result of issues with insulin production or resistance.
The imbalance results in various symptoms like hunger, thirst, fatigue, urination, and multiple fluctuations in the levels of blood glucose. But, all this can be prevented or managed if one is already diabetic.
Research has proven that exercise can change calcium and ATP levels in a manner that manages GLUT 4 transporters and proper glucose uptake into skeletal muscle irrespective of the prevailing insulin levels.
Acute exercise is proven to activate alternative molecular signals that can easily bypass the defects in insulin signaling in skeletal muscle. That results in an insulin-independent increase in glucose absorption.
According to Standford & Goodyear, exercise-induced adaptations to skeletal muscle are necessary to prevent and fight type 2 diabetes.
The best part of it all is that this exercise routine is free.
Doses Can Even Be Ten Minutes Only
The benefits of exercising are many and complex but the effort put in is quite simple. For instance, 150 min/wk of physical activity coupled with diet-induced weight loss reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 58% in an at-risk population. More findings indicate that exercise alone is a great strategy for mitigating and preventing this condition.
The recommended guidelines for Type 2 diabetes are the 150min/week spread across at least three days in a week in 10-minutes segments or more. Doctors suggest that individuals with severe cases of obesity can target the 200–250-minute mark per week as time goes.
Starting an exercise habit can be quite intimidating but it is always good to start even small by even walking just 10 minutes per day. You can go on a bike ride, walk regularly in the morning, engage in a new sport, play outside with the children more often, or even join a training team.
Getting into a routine even a healthy habit involves more of psychology than physiology. But once a rhythm is formed, there is always room for growth. Thus, 10-minute walks if done consistently can go a long way to open doors for many health benefits. Some of the
benefits include prevention of other chronic diseases, enhanced emotional regulation, elevated mood, and so much more. The small sacrifice results in astronomical gains.
The Takeaway
Whether you feel healthy or have a chronic disease like type 2 diabetes, exercise is for everyone. It combats a lot of illnesses, and it is entirely free to acquire. But the real challenge lies in consistency. It is easy to start exercising but quite challenging to keep up the habit in the long-term.
Healthy living should be a norm for anyone, and everyone who wishes to avoid various illnesses, and exercise is a component of the life-changing ‘pill’.