What Exercises Are Good For Managing Diabetes And Blood Sugar?
Exercise is a very important factor in maintaining your overall health. Even if you have diabetes or need to manage your blood sugar levels, exercise is a useful health care option.
If you have diabetes, it is especially important to exercise regularly. However, patients with type 1 diabetes should consider their safety issues and set their exercise routine more carefully.
◆ Why is exercise important to diabetics? = According to the American Society of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Diabetes Association (ADA), exercise is an important condition for diabetics to maintain their’optimal health status’.
When we exercise, our body needs fuel, and at this time, it uses glucose and blood sugar as fuel. This helps lower blood sugar levels in the body. The harder you exercise, the amplified this effect, lowering the insulin resistance that causes type 2 diabetes.
Regular exercise helps build muscle and burn fat, which improves the body’s ability to use insulin. Diabetics can benefit from being more insulin sensitive through exercise.
In other words, exercise helps diabetics reduce blood sugar levels in the short term and improve insulin sensitivity in the long term.
◆ What kind of exercise and how much should I do? = Then , what kind of exercise should diabetic patients do and how much should this improvement effect be achieved? According to the ADA, diabetics should set a goal of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.
For those who don’t usually exercise, 150 minutes can feel overwhelming or difficult. However, if you do it consistently, you will be able to recognize that it is the level of exercise you can keep in your daily life.
However, the ADA believes that it is not good to skip physical activity for more than two days. At least once every day or every two days, you should do exercise, such as steadily walking. Also, walking exercise does not mean taking a leisurely walk while enjoying the scenery. You should feel like walking vigorously, and if you walk for a long time, you should feel sweaty or feel like you’ve been exercising quite a bit. Other forms of exercise, such as swimming, cycling, or playing tennis, can help as well.
◆ What to be careful about when exercising? = You need to be careful about safety. Particularly in type 1 diabetics, exercise can cause blood sugar to drop rapidly. Patients with type 1 diabetes should consult their healthcare practitioner fully, as dangerous levels of blood sugar drop or hypoglycemia can lead to serious life-threatening situations. You need to plan your exercise well, paying attention to food intake and insulin administration. Also, check your blood sugar levels before and after exercise.
People with diabetes and other chronic or severe illnesses should also consult with their doctor to make an appropriate exercise plan. Also, you should constantly monitor your health. If your feet feel dull due to diabetes, you may not feel the pain well, so check that exercise does not put an excessive burden on your feet.
