World Diabetes Day 2022: Simple Exercises For People With Diabetes To Stay Fit

Exercise can reduce your blood pressure by 5 mm like a blood pressure drug. Exercise can also lead to weight loss and there is a further drop of 1 mm blood pressure per kilogram of weight loss.

World Diabetes Day: The general recommendation is that people living with diabetes should perform 150 minutes or more of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

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By Dr. Kalyan Kumar Gangopadhyay

People are used to hearing “Exercise is good for you”. But the question is – what exactly is good? Multiple clinical trials have shown that simple exercises can reduce blood sugar HbA1C by 0.7 (HbA1C tells us how our blood sugar has been for the previous three months). Many diabetes drugs reduce HbA1C by 0.7. 

Exercise can reduce your blood pressure by 5 mm like a blood pressure drug. Exercise can also lead to weight loss and there is a further drop of 1 mm blood pressure per kilogram of weight loss. So simple regular exercise can become equivalent to taking one diabetes pill and one blood pressure pill. In addition, exercise releases endorphins, which are also called “happy hormones”. Being active is proven to reduce stress levels and improve low mood, in addition to reducing harmful cholesterol. You can also visit sites like intolife.in to know more about better diabetes management, along with consulting your doctor. 

Exercise recommendation in diabetes 

The general recommendation is that people living with diabetes should perform 150 minutes or more of moderate-intensity exercise per week. If a patient can hold a conversation while exercising but does not have the breath to whistle, it can be considered moderate-intensity exercise (ex. brisk walking). 

Unfortunately, less than 40% of patients with diabetes follow the recommendation.

Timing of exercise 

It is a myth that exercise must be done on waking-up in the morning. One can exercise anytime of the day. Research has shown that exercising in the morning leads to improvement in bad cholesterol while exercising 30 minutes after meals improves post prandial blood sugar (blood sugar rise which occurs after food). So, splitting the exercise so that part of it is done in the morning and the rest after dinner may be a good way to reap both the benefits. 

Types of exercise 

Many people think that exercise equals joining the gym. Nothing can be further from the truth. Simple brisk walking has an all-round effect on blood sugar and blood pressure. For people with joint pain, swimming is a good option. For those who do not know swimming, walking in chest-deep water can be an excellent exercise as the buoyancy of the water reduces the load on the joints and hence there is minimal or no pain. 

In addition, we should take advantage of every opportunity to exercise – examples include: on-the-spot walking while watching TV, getting off your car/bus a km away from your destination and managing the rest on foot, standing and/or walking while on the phone if it is safe to do so, stretching for a few minutes after every meeting, pacing up and down while waiting for your bus, train, plane, etc. 

Other important exercises which are ignored

With age and with advancing diabetes, patients are at risk of falls. This is because of weakening of the muscles involved in maintaining balance. Hence it is important in strengthening those muscles. Again, simple exercises can do the trick. These include standing on one foot (may use your fingers against the wall to support), walking tip toe, walking heel to toe in a straight line, walking backwards, standing up from a seated position without using your hands.

Another common disability in diabetes patients is ‘frozen shoulder’ where movements of the shoulder joints become very painful. Yet again, simple exercises can prevent this – stand and lean over slightly on a table with one arm and swing the other arm in a small circle — about a foot in diameter. Another simple exercise involves holding one end of a three-foot-long towel behind your back and grabbing the opposite end with your other hand and pulling one end up. 

When do you need medication? 

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition, meaning that the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar decreases with time. Even when your medication, workout routine, diet, or other diabetes management practices haven't changed since your type 2 diabetes diagnosis, you may realize that it's more difficult to meet your treatment goals. This is normal. 

Over time, you may have to progress to medication, and further down the line you might need to take a combination of medications, including insulin. 

A life-saving treatment for diabetes, insulin was discovered in 1921. Insulin therapy has advanced remarkably over the past few decades, helps patients to lead a normal life and it is no longer a taboo. We have come a long way in terms of newer insulin formulations as well as simpler delivery techniques. 

Summary 

Exercise plays a major role in the prevention and control of insulin resistance, prediabetes, and diabetes-related health complications. There are multifactorial benefits of exercise in diabetic patients as well as others, and no medicine should replace exercise. It will help in the overall well being of a person and will help them to lead a healthy life. 

The author is Dr. Kalyan Kumar Gangopadhyay, MD, FRCP, CCST, Consultant in Endocrinology 

(Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are independent views of the doctor. Please consult your doctor for any medical advice.)