What's new in diabetes care
Introduction to diabetes
Types of diabetes
Diagnosis
Risk factors & screening

Physical activity and exercise

• Beneficial effects of exercise
• How often do I need to exercise?
• Do I need to adjust my insulin doses before exercise?
• Calories burned in daily activity and exercise

..............................................................................................................................

Beneficial effects of exercise

There are many beneficial effects of exercise. It helps to lose weight, to reduce ‘intra-abdominal fat’ even in those who did not lose weight, and to improves insulin sensitivity, thus blood glucose control. It also has blood pressure lowering effect.

For example, people with diabetes who walk 2 hours a day can lower their mortality risk by 39%, and their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 34%

How often do I need to exercise?

.The standard exercise recommendation is a daily minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity. Ideally these 30 minutes should be one period of sustained activity, but the benefit of physical activities is cumulative. For example, three 10 minute sessions in a day is equivalent to a 30 minute session. Walking or light jogging for one hour per day will produce significant losses of abdominal (visceral) in men without caloric restriction.

You can participate in leisure activities e.g. brisk walking, gardening, cycling, or adopt healthy lifestyle habits such as walking to the shops instead of driving, use the stairs rather than the elevator. One should avoid common sedentary activities in leisure time such as TV watching and computer games.

Do I need to adjust my insulin doses before exercise?

Patients on insulin should take extra carbohydrates before and after exercise and/or reduce insulin doses. Exercise related hypoglycaemia can often occur several hours after exercise – which could be during the night. Patients should be advised to take extra carbohydrate as necessary.

Calories burned in daily activity and exercise

The following table shows the approximate amount of calories burned in the daily activity and exercise: