The American Diabetes Association has updated their recommendations for physical activity in the 2015 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes. The new guidelines include Don’t sit for more than 90 minutes. Evidence shows that all individuals, with or without diabetes, should limit the time they spend being sedentary by breaking up amounts of time spent sitting. We are more sedentary than ever before. Sedentary means all the activities you do while sitting or laying down. You are not using much energy and are burning minimal calories. Being sedentary can increase the risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes and heart and blood vessel diseases including elevated triglycerides, low HDL (good) cholesterol, decreased insulin resistance, elevated glucose, and excess abdominal fat.
Other guidelines for physical activity include:
- Adults with diabetes should be advised to perform at least 150 min/week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity (50–70% of maximum heart rate), spread over at least 3 days/week with no more than 2 consecutive days without exercise.
- In the absence of contraindications, adults with type 2 diabetes should be encouraged to perform resistance training at least twice per week.
Many people aim for 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week to get in their 150 minutes. It’s even okay to break the 30 minutes down into 10 minutes 3 times a day. But you do try to challenge yourself with moderate intensity. Moderate intensity means you’re heart rate is up and you are breathing harder than normal but you can still say a sentence. If you can sing a song you are working at a low intensity (which is still better than sitting).
Resistance or strength training challenges major muscle groups to near exhaustion in 8-12 repetitions. Resistance bands and dumbbells are commonly used and to build muscle you have to work to near exhaustion in 8-12 reps. If you can do 12 reps and it’s not that hard , try heavier weights or thicker resistance band. We lose muscle as we age, which lowers our metabolism and working them is the only way to build them up. The good news about more muscle is that it lowers insulin resistance and your body use insulin better. I met a diabetologist (a doctor who specializes in diabetes) at a meeting many years ago who said “exercising is like taking an insulin shot”–it really helps your body’s cells open up and let the glucose in. That was exciting for me to hear to remember it so clearly after all these years.
With daily physical activity you can greatly improve your chances of living a life without complications from diabetes. Start with where you are and set a realistic goal for this week–something specific and measurable. For instance if you currently not exercising at all, consider sitting less by limiting TV shows, or walking around your coffee table when commercials are on. If you are already walking most days of the week, consider starting strength training to build your muscles. Think of something that is important and doable for you. For me, I’ve started setting my phone alarm for 45 minutes when I sit down to do work on the computer. My goal is to really focus and knock out some work, and then when my alarm goes off, I’m going for a walk around the block.
If you need ideas, check out Don’t Sit, Get Fit website created by students at the University of New Mexico.
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