What is the relationship between physical activity and diabetes?

If you're living with diabetes—especially type 2 diabetes—regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do to lower your blood sugar. Increased physical activity can work just as effectively as some medications, with fewer side effects.

If you're at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, regular exercise can help delay or even prevent diabetes from developing.

Strive to complete at least 150 minutes of moderate-to vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise each week (e.g. 30 minutes, five days a week) and resistance exercises (like lifting weights) two to three times a week.

Physical activity is any form of movement that causes your body to burn calories. This can be walking, gardening, cleaning and many other activities you already do. Daily physical activity is important. Low physical fitness is as strong a risk factor for dying as smoking is.

Avoid long periods of sitting by getting up every 20 to 30 minutes to stand or move around. Adding more physical activity to your day is one of the most important things you can do to help manage your diabetes and improve your health.

Benefits of physical activity

Regular physical activity, along with eating healthy and controlling your weight, can reduce your risk of developing diabetes complications such as heart disease and stroke.

Regular physical activity also helps:

• prevent sugar from building up in your blood
• lower your blood pressure (since your muscles use sugar for energy)
• reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Before you get started

Before starting a new exercise routine, be prepared:

• If you've been inactive for a while, talk to your doctor before starting any exercise program that's more difficult than brisk walking 
• If you live with type 1 diabetes, speak to your doctor reducing the risk of low blood sugar during and after exercise
• Wear comfortable, proper-fitting shoes, and your MedicAlert® bracelet or necklace
• Carry a fast-acting carbohydrate with you in case you need to treat low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), e.g. glucose tablets or Life Savers®
• If you take insulin or medications that increase the release of insulin, monitor your blood sugar before, during and many hours after your activity to see how it affects your blood sugar levels
• If you are short of breath or have chest pain, speak to your doctor

Types of physical activity

Both aerobic and resistance exercise are important for people living with diabetes. 

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise is continuous movement (such as walking, bicycling or jogging) that raises your heart rate and breathing. Benefits of aerobic exercise include:

• improved fitness, health and body composition
• reduced complications of diabetes such as lowered risk of heart disease
• improved diabetes, including blood sugar, blood fats, and blood pressure

Aim for 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. You may have to start slowly, with as little as five to 10 minutes of exercise per day, gradually building up to your goal.

The good news is that multiple, shorter exercise sessions of at least 10 minutes each can be as useful as a single longer session of the same intensity.

Interval aerobic training

Interval training involves short periods of vigorous aerobic exercise, such as running or cycling, alternating with short recovery periods at low-to-moderate intensity or rest from 30 seconds to 3 minutes each.

Interval training is an effective way to increase your fitness level if you have type 2 diabetes, or to lower your risk of low blood sugar if you have type 1 diabetes.

Resistance exercise

Resistance exercise involves brief repetitive exercises with weights, weight machines, resistance bands or your own body weight to build muscle and strength. Benefits of resistance exercise include:

• maintaining or increasing lean muscle
• burning calories at rest throughout the day
• weight control and diabetes management (especially as we age)

Aim to do resistance exercises 2 to 3 times per week. If you're beginning resistance exercise for the first time, you should get some instruction from a qualified exercise specialist, a diabetes educator or exercise resource (such as a video or brochure).

The key is to start slowly and build your way up.

Get the support you need

Physical activity and diabetes can be a complex issue. If you need help and/or advice on how to become physically active, you can ask your doctor or a member of your diabetes health-care team for support that's right for you.

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The adoption and maintenance of physical activity are critical foci for blood glucose management and overall health in individuals with diabetes and prediabetes.

• Exercise is considered an important therapeutic regimen for diabetes mellitus.
• Exercise in diabetic patients promotes cardiovascular benefits by reducing cardiovascular risk and mortality, assists with weight management, and it improves glycemic control. The increased tissue sensitivity to insulin produces a beneficial effect on glycemic control.
• Type 1 and type 2 patients with diabetes are encouraged to do 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity.
• Patients suffering from diabetes should also be encouraged to perform resistance training at least twice per week.
• Patients with moderate to severe proliferative retinopathy have contraindications for resistance training. Otherwise, for physically fit patients, a shorter duration of more vigorous aerobic exercise is recommended.
• A UK based study in 2004, which studied both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients, found that only 34% of patients took some form of physical activity and only 9% of these patients exercised sufficiently to achieve a large change in heart rate or breathing.

Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure.It includes all forms of activity, such as everyday walking or cycling to get from A to B, active play, work-related activity, active recreation (such as working out in a gym), dancing, gardening or playing active games, as well as organised and competitive sport. Exercise is a subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, repeated and has a final or an intermediate objective to the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness

Diabetes is a metabolic condition in which the body does not produce sufficient insulin to regulate blood glucose levels or where the insulin produced is unable to work effectively. There are two main types of diabetes:

• Type 1 diabetes also known as Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) is an auto-immune condition in which the cells that produce insulin are destroyed so lifelong treatment with insulin is required to prevent death. It is a chronic disorder characterised by hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar) and disruption in metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. It is reported that ~5% of all Diabetes cases are Type 1 DM.
• Type 2 diabetes also known as Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) accounts for at least 90% of all cases of diabetes. It occurs when the body either stops producing enough insulin for its needs or becomes resistant to the effect of insulin produced. The condition is progressive requiring lifestyle management (diet and exercise) at all stages. Over time most people with type 2 diabetes will require oral drugs and or insulin. Type 2 diabetes may remain undetected for many years.

Globally, 1 in 11 adults has DM (90% having T2DM). Diabetes Mellitus (both Type 1 and Type 2) is now a global epidemic. Usually correlated with being overweight and obese, a sedentary lifestyle and familial history are also being considered as risk factors. Diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in middle- and low-income countries. The prevalence of diabetes is higher in men than women, but there are more women with diabetes than men. .

T2DM

• The onset of T2DM is usually later in life, though obesity in adolescents has led to an increase in T2DM in younger populations.
• T2DM has a prevalence of about 9% in the total population of the United States, but approximately 25% in those over 65 years.
• In England, 6% of people aged 17 years or older had diagnosed with diabetes in 2013
• The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 1 in 11 adults between 20 and 79 years had DM globally in 2015.
• If effective prevention methods are not carried out, experts expect the prevalence of DM to rise to 700 million by 2045, with the most significant increase in populations transitioning from low to middle-income levels

T1DM

• The onset of T1DM gradually increases from birth and peaks at ages 4 to 6 years and then again from 10 to 14 years.
• The incidence of T1DM has been increasing worldwide.
• In Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, rates are rising by 2 to 5% annually.
• In the United States, T1DM rates rose in most age and ethnic groups by about 2% yearly, and rates are higher in Hispanic youth.

Physical Activity and the Prevention of NIDDM[edit | edit source]

Maintenance of the exercise program in patients with diabetes is an important goal because it is associated with long-term cardiovascular benefits and reduced mortality.

• Moderately active people, compared with those who are sedentary, have a 30-40% lower risk of DM.
• Women who reported engaging in vigorous exercise at least once a week had a lower incidence of self-reported type 2 diabetes during the 8 years of follow-up than did women who did not exercise weekly.
• Postmenopausal women aged 55–69 years partaking in PA versus sedentary women had a lower incidence of diabetes..

Physical activity

• May reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes directly through improvements in insulin sensitivity. This may be independent of any effect of activity on weight loss and fat distribution .
• Is negatively associated with insulin concentrations in two populations at high risk for diabetes that differed greatly by body mass index.
• A large portion of the effect of physical activity in decreasing insulin resistance is short lived and may last only few days. Consistency of an individual’s activity throughout the years is essential to ensure getting the benefits of exercise on insulin sensitivity.

Benefits of Physical Activities in Diabetes[edit | edit source]

Physical activity has been shown to

• Decrease cardiovascular risk and mortality
• Improve lipid profile and endothelial function.
• Improves insulin sensitivity, which is not unique to those with NIDDM, patients with IDDM tend to be more insulin resistant than their counterparts without diabetes.

Currently, around 50% of patients with IDDM are either overweight or obese and have higher waist and hip circumferences when compared to healthy controls.

• Co-morbidities often associated with excess body weight reduce the benefits of good metabolic control. Controlling body weight in patients with diabetes is necessary to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
• Exercise has positive effects on weight loss, waist circumference, fasting glucose plasma and insulin serum levels.
• High Intensity Training is effective at improving measures of insulin resistance compared with continuous exercise and a non-exercising control group. Importantly, the largest effects were seen in those with type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome. The DMT2/MS group also had a 0.92 mmol L−1 reduction in fasting glucose and a 0.47% (5 mmol L−1) reduction in HbA1c and a significant reduction of 1.3 kg in body weight compared with the non-exercising control group. In addition, cardiorespiratory fitness improved compared with both controls.

Barriers to Physical Activities[edit | edit source]

Addressing perceived barriers to performing recommended PA levels in this population is crucial for planning effective PA-promoting interventions.

Different studies in many communities identified variable barriers.

• Irish patients with NIDDM concluded the perceived boring nature of exercise, lack of time, physical pain and depression were barriers to exercise and are the main issues that need to be overcome when attempting to increase exercise levels in obese Irish patients with NIDDM.
• In Oman lack of willpower, low resources and low social support (especially in females) as the most common barriers to performing leisure PA.

Other barriers include:

• Fatigue
• Lack self-motivation
• Low self-efficacy
• Fear of hypoglycaemia
• Work schedule
• Loss of control over diabetes
• Fear being injured or have been injured recently
• Lack self-management skills, such as the ability to set personal goals, monitor progress, or reward progress toward such goals
• Barriers related to exercise facilities such as parks, sidewalks, bicycle trails or safe and convenient pleasant walking paths .

Fewer barriers to exercise include

• Knowledge of insulin pharmacokinetics
• Implementation of strategies to reduce the probability of exercise-induced hypoglycaemia
• Greater social support
• Having someone with whom to perform physical activity .

Long-Term Compliance and an Interprofessional Approach

• Maintenance of the exercise program in patients with type 2 diabetes is an important goal because it is associated with long-term cardiovascular benefits and reduced mortality.
• Primary care physicians, physiotherapists and nursing professional diabetes educators caring for patients play an important role in educating these patients of the importance of exercise regimen as a therapeutic option for the disease management.
• There have been studies which suggested simple behavioral counseling during routine clinic visits give encouraging results for increasing compliance.
• Lifestyle changes may be difficult to undertake, especially in older adults; therefore, self-management education and support focused on general knowledge of diabetes, adherence to therapy, lifestyle changes, and self-monitoring of blood glucose are fundamental to optimise glycemic control in order to prevent or delay acute and chronic complications and to improve quality of life for people with diabetes.
• Exercise in diabetes management control and confirms a reduction of medication use (with a consequent decrease of costs) and an improvement of clinical, metabolic, and anthropometric parameters in patients undergoing structured community programs of supervised exercise.
• Most of these programs showed the opportunity to combine a multidisciplinary educational intervention with a training program in order to improve the self-management of NIDDM and to establish durable behaviour changes.

Exercise Prescription/Recommendations[edit | edit source]

For meaningful improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and metabolic health to occur in adults is engaging in a minimum of 150 min of moderate-intensity or 75 min of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, accumulated in bouts of 10 min or more. The guidelines for weight loss are greater, suggesting that 200–300 min per week are required for long-term reductions.

People with diabetes should perform aerobic exercise at moderate intensity 3 or more days per week for a total of 150 minutes minimum per week. Exercise routine should consist of a combination of aerobic and muscle strengthening training. For those who have been sedentary, these individuals should request clearance from their health care provider prior to beginning an exercise program.

Safe and effective exercise prescription for the individual with diabetes depends on the careful weighing of multiple factors and sound clinical judgement. Assessment of the individual’s medical history and physical examination will help determine the degree of risk and identify the most appropriate physical activity.

PA advice specific to Diabetes:[edit | edit source]

1. The PA programme should consist primarily of aerobic and resistance training, as these have been shown to have clear benefits in prevention and management of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
2. For all adults with T2D, exercise program should include aerobic, resistance, flexibility and balance regime. Aerobic and resistance exercise should be performed at least three times a week; this is because the effect of exercise-induced improvements in insulin action is short-lived. Current guidelines recommend a frequency of 3-7 days/week of aerobic exercise with no more than 2 consecutive days between bouts of activity. For resistance training, it is beneficial to perform 2-3 days/week but never on consecutive days.

Physiological concerns for Type 2 Diabetes include the following:[edit | edit source]

• When BG values are above 16.7 mml/L during physical activity, hydration is important. If BG results are consistently elevated, patients should consult with their health care provider and/or diabetes specialist prior to continuing their regular exercise program.
• Persons with type 1 diabetes should check for ketones if BG is greater than 300 mg/dl or 16.7.mml/L. If present, activity should be delayed, individual should hydrate and follow plan of care for elevated ketones. However, it is not necessary to postpone physical activity based simply on hyperglycaemia, provided the patient feels well and urine and/or blood ketones are trace or absent.
• Peripheral neuropathy is a concern in regards to foot injury. Individuals without acute ulceration can participate in moderate weight bearing exercise. Careful attention to appropriate foot wear and any signs of foot damage should be emphasised. Balance may also be compromised and should be evaluated due to increased risk of falls. Consider consultation with a podiatrist to determine patient’s risk.
• Autonomic neuropathy increases the risk of silent heart attack and hypotension. If there are unexplained symptoms and feelings of extreme fatigue which last for more than a few minutes, physical activity should be stopped and the individual should be coached to report it immediately to their health care provider. The individual may also have more difficulty adjusting to temperature extremes and should consider this when choosing a physical activity for that day. Evaluation by their health care provider is appropriate and the individual may be referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program for monitoring during exercise.
• Those with a history of uncontrolled proliferative retinopathy should avoid activities that increase the risk of intra-ocular pressure such as the Valsalva manoeuvre that include lifting heavy weights or jarring the head, that may occur in contact sports. In the absence of haemorrhaging, individuals can participate in moderate activity.

Exercising with Type 1 Diabetes[edit | edit source]

• Regular monitoring of blood glucose concentrations, and trial and error is needed to understand and manage each individuals response to exercise
• Intensity and duration of exercise
  • Pre-exercise insulin dose generally needs to be reduced when exercise extends beyond 30 minutes
  • Varies for each individual; generally, longer exercise, less insulin
• Degree of metabolic control before exercise
  • Easier to manage and predict the body's response to exercise when metabolic control is good
  • Dangerous to commence exercise when blood glucose levels are high and ketones are present in the urine
• Type and dose of insulin injected before exercise
  • Common practice to use a mixture of short and long lasting insulin
  • Necessary to predict the peak period of insulin activity to avoid excessive levels of insulin in the blood at the same time as exercising.
• Site of insulin injection
  • Insulin absorption is increased in exercising muscles
  • The abdomen is usually the preferred site for insulin injection prior to exercise
• Timing of previous meal
  • Insulin requirements are influenced by the amount and type of food consumed
• During exercise carbohydrate
  • Blood glucose 5 to 10 mmol/l: 30 to 45 g CHO/h
  • Blood glucose 10 to 14 mmol/l: 15 g CHO/h
  • Blood glucose >14 mmol/l: no exercise

Exercise training programs have emerged as a useful therapeutic regimen for the management of diabetes mellitus. Primary effects include the development of aerobic and resistance exercise programs which have been shown to decrease the incidence of NIDDM. Secondary effects include the ability of aerobic and resistance training to help in the control of diabetes. There is accumulating evidence that combined aerobic and resistance exercise training is more effective than either model alone.

It is important to be aware of Hyperglycaemia, caused by a lack of glucose control, and Hypoglycaemia, caused by taking too much insulin or glucose-lowering drugs. Contra-indications to exercise are blood glucose levels >250mg/dl and <100mg/dl. Active diabetic retinopathy means no strenuous activity (jogging, stepping). Significant peripheral neuropathy is an indication to limit weight-bearing exercise. Patient who have difficulty with thermoregulation should avoid exercise in extreme environments and be vigilant about adequate hydration. Dehydration can have an effect on blood glucose levels (e.g. 500ml of fluid consumed 2hr pre-exercise). A standard recommendation for diabetic patients is that exercise induces a proper warm-up and cool-down period. A warm-up should consist of 5-10mins of aerobic activity at a low-intensity level.

A combination of aerobic and strengthening exercises should be recommended. But precautionary measures for exercise involving the feet are essential for many patients with diabetes. The overall aim of exercise prescription, as mentioned above, is to achieve the ACSM guidelines for healthy sedentary individuals. A diabetes identification bracelet or shoe tag should be clearly visible when exercising.

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