By: Igor Klibanov and Diane Borhani
If you or someone you know is struggling with diabetes, then you’ve come to the right place. You’re probably reading this because you want to lower your blood sugar with exercise, but you don’t know where to start.
Original source: here.
Exercise is important for everyone, especially those with diabetes. It can be frustrating to deal with the challenges that come with diabetes such as:
- Blurry vision
- Cognitive issues like memory loss
- Nerve damage
- Fatigue
- Frequent urination
…and many more.
But what if I told you that something as simple as physical activity is beneficial to help you fight against the symptoms and the troubles that come with diabetes?
However, it’s unfortunate that many people with diabetes often might not know what type of exercise is best for them and how much exercise is enough to get positive results. There are also parameters to exercising which include:
- The type (cardio or strength training)
- Frequency (how many days per week)
- Intensity (low, medium, or high)
- Duration (how much time per exercise session)
But you may be wondering, what qualifies me to talk to you about exercise for diabetes? I am the author of the Amazon bestseller “Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Secrets” as well as a personal trainer who works with a variety of clients, including diabetics and prediabetics like John, Mandy, and others.
Benefits of Exercise for Diabetes
There are many benefits to exercise, especially for those with diabetes. These benefits include but are not limited to:
- Improved body composition, so you can look better, get into smaller dress sizes, and like what you see in the mirror.
- Better blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and blood lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.) ● Reduced risk of heart disease and heart attack
- Improved overall health
- Reduce stress and boost your mood
How Exercise Improves Blood Sugar Levels
Exercising (which you can even do from your own home) lowers your blood sugar levels and improves your insulin sensitivity. How? As you exercise, your muscles use more glucose for fuel. Where does this glucose come from? Your bloodstream. More glucose in the muscles means less glucose in the bloodstream, which of course means lower blood sugar.
There are 2 ways to improve blood sugar levels with exercise.
- The first way is called glucose disposal. Glucose is the fuel for muscle contractions. Both cardio and strength training use the glucose disposal method since they include muscle contraction.
- The second method is called glycogen storage. What is glycogen? It’s simply the plural of “glucose.” Glycogen is stored in organs such as muscles, liver, fat, the heart, and others. Building muscle mass by strength training increases the muscle’s storage capacity for glucose and reduces the sugar levels in your bloodstream.
Imagine you have 25 books and a bookshelf that has space for only 20 books. Where do the extra 5 books go? Your only solution is to get a bigger bookshelf. This analogy also applies to blood sugar. If you have a storage capacity of only 350 grams of sugar, but you need 360 grams of sugar to put away. The extra 10 grams of sugar won’t fit inside the muscle. Instead, it will go into your bloodstream.
Fat loss
Losing fat, which can be done by exercise, can lower blood glucose levels. However, you do not need to lose weight to improve blood sugar levels and help fight against diabetes. Research shows that even without any weight loss, exercise can improve blood sugar levels, according to several studies.
Fat loss from exercise lowers blood glucose levels because it can make your body more sensitive to insulin and will decrease the insulin resistance. Since insulin sensitivity can improve weight loss, it can also improve your A1C levels.
Fat loss can also help prevent any issues related to mobility (joint pain). People who struggle with diabetes are more prone to having issues related to mobility than those who do not have the disease. Issues related to mobility are more likely to occur as level of obesity increases and the level of physical activity decreases. This is why staying physically active is so beneficial, especially to those with diabetes.
Speak to a Doctor
Before starting a new exercise routine, it is important for your own well being to take special precautions, and speak to your doctor, because if you are taking insulin or certain medications, it can predispose you to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Explaining to your doctor about a new exercise or a new routine you want to try is necessary for your safety. It’s important to let your doctor review your medical history before trying a new exercise routine. Why? What should you ask your doctor?
The biggest question to ask your doctor is whether now that you are going to be exercising, are you at risk for exaggerated blood sugar drops?
What’s the problem with large blood sugar drops? If it happens too quickly, there is a risk of getting all the symptoms of hypoglycemia:
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Fainting
- In extreme cases, diabetic coma
In case of extreme blood sugar drops, glucose tablets or small snacks that are quickly digested carbohydrate foods such as fruit juice and hard candy can come in handy.
The Effects of Cardio
Cardio is beneficial to your heart, lungs, and blood vessels. The effects of cardio are a
reduction in blood sugar if the duration and intensity are enough (and usually, walking and tai chi are not intense enough to cause blood sugar reductions).
With proper exercise, some diabetics find that their blood sugar is not high enough anymore to be considered diabetics. In other words, their HbA1C drops below the diabetic cutoff (6.5%).
Something as simple as exercising 3-6 times a week with moderate-high intensity (65% -100% maximum heart rate) is optimal and can help you see some pretty good results.
The duration should be around 20 minutes if it’s intense (over 85% of your maximal heart rate) and up to 60 minutes if it is moderate (65-85% of your maximal heart rate).
Progression is the most important factor when it comes to exercise. Start slowly, but then gradually increase the duration of the exercise by about 2 minutes. Once you do this consistently for 3 months, your body will thank you for all the benefits it has received such as:
- Improved figure
- Lowered blood sugar levels
- Less chance of heart disease
- Improved overall health
- Lowered stress levels
The Effects of Strength Training
Strength training is very important for those with diabetes as it helps push glucose into the muscles. Strength training helps you use insulin (a hormone that allows glucose to enter your cells where it is used for energy) more effectively.
A combination of cardio and strength training is more effective and provides better results than only doing cardio or strength training alone.
Strength training is effective with as little as two or three workouts per week. Building muscle is a very powerful way of reducing blood sugar levels because most of the glucose we consume goes to your muscles. Therefore, if you have larger muscles, have more “storage capacity” for sugar. The liver can store about 90 grams of glucose. By contrast, the muscles can store up to 350 grams. That’s why increasing muscle size can be so effective at reducing blood sugar. We can increase muscle size. We can’t increase liver size.
Intensity, Duration, and Frequency of Exercise for Cardio
As I mention in my article on the most important factor in an exercise program, the exercises themselves are only the 4th most important variable. What matters more is the intensity of the workout. If the intensity is too low it may have either a low impact or no impact on blood sugar levels.
However, it’s recommended to include a variety of different exercises (around 8-10 exercises) into your exercise routine, that cover the entire body. For example, it doesn’t really matter what activity you choose to do such as dance, swimming, biking, running, resistance training, or walking, as long as you do it at the right intensity and frequency (number of workouts per week) for it to have an effect.
This means that the lower the intensity, the higher the duration, and the higher the intensity, the lower the duration. High intensity is 85% of the maximal heart rate, when it comes to aerobic exercise, or over 70% of your 1 repetition maximum when it comes to strength training.
Sixty to ninety minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week can burn 600-1000 calories. This is the minimum.
A study found that 2-3 hours a week of moderate intensity exercise (again, moderate intensity being 65-85% of your maximal heart rate) can burn 1500-2000 calories. About 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity, or 60 minutes per week of high intensity cardio is needed to lower H1bA1C levels from 9.7 (175.2 mg/dl) to 9.4 (169.9 mg/dl).
Intensity, Frequency, and Volume of Exercise for Strength Training
This study shows that over the period of 16 weeks, Strength training as little as 2 times a week can reduce blood sugar levels by 7.1%. The studies using strength training to lower blood sugar use intensities ranging from 50% or your 1 repetition maximum up to 85%.
Strength training 2-3 times a week is recommended. The intensity of your exercise determines the volume (number of sets and reps). If the intensity of your exercise is above 80%, you could do around 3 sets of 3 repetitions, or 5 sets of 5 repetitions. If the intensity of your workout is below 80%, you could do around 6-20 repetitions per set, meaning your volume would be higher.
Conclusion
Prioritizing your health and fitness by exercising and reaching your wellness goals is one of the most important steps to managing diabetes. By including the right exercises with the correct intensity, duration, and frequency into your weekly routine, you will notice drastic changes in your body and personal health and wellness.
It is also important to remember to exercise safety and check your blood sugar once before the workout, and once after the workout.
