Exercise is an essential part of any effective long term remedy, especially for chronic diseases like diabetes. Diabetes control and cure requires changes in diet and physical activity. Exercise has a close link with insulin production and sensitivity. If you remain physically active, you will be better able to keep your sugar in control.
Exercise has proven benefits for diabetics owing to its positive effects on sugar regulation. If you’re in the habit of doing some sort of exercise on regular basis, the chances of you getting diabetes will decrease drastically. Even people with family history of diabetes have managed to escape this disorder by remaining fit and following an exercise plan. Exercise helps both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. In type 1 diabetics, it helps in increasing the production of insulin. In type 2 diabetics, it increases the effectiveness of already secreted insulin so that muscles can use blood glucose efficiently. Hence, body glucose gets used up and its blood levels can be kept under normal values. 😛
What exercise routine is best for diabetics?
There is no single best exercise routine for diabetes. You can choose any kind of physical activity that spans for about 25 minutes a day. It can be some mild aerobic exercise or some kind of weight training. Mild aerobic exercises are considered best for diabetics if practiced on regular basis. These exercises affect the whole body and give a refreshing effect to the vital organs. The blood circulation is increased; as a result exerting important benefits for the diabetic bodies. The blood flow to the legs becomes sluggish in diabetes and exercises increase it to the normal. These workouts also activate the body glands including pancreas to secrete more hormones.
Major aerobic exercises include: Jogging , Brisk walking, Swimming, Rowing, Cycling, Badminton & Tennis playing
Start off with an activity you enjoy the most and add new exercises to your routine
Since diabetics have difficulty in getting started owing to derailed metabolism, so don’t get frustrated in the beginning. It’s going to be a little hard and you will gain momentum during a couple of weeks. Majority of people usually have not done any kind of exercise (one of the reasons they get diabetic) so start is going to be slow for them. Take a gradual start and split your 30 minutes workout into chunks but do complete 30 min a day.
Once you get used to an aerobic exercise, you can go for a resistance training program. Stress training exercises will help you to build your muscle and strengthen your bones. The increased muscles bulk with soak more glucose too. You can either join some gym or carry out these exercises at home. Pushups, pull-ups and weight lifting are the examples of stress training. Doing such exercises for thrice a week for 20 minutes is sufficient enough to gain the results. However, always remember to be gentle with your body and don’t exhaust it.
Yoga is also truly helpful in regulating diabetes, two yogasanas recommended by Ramdev Baba are Kapal Bhati and Anulom Vilom you can practice them to see wonderful results
See How to do Kapal Bhati and Anulom Vilom pranayam
Observe some cautions too! you may need to snack before you exercise !!
There are some precautions that must be observed by the diabetic’s patients while opting for some exercises. If you are using insulin or your diet does not contain enough carbs, you may get hypoglycemic during exercise. So adjust your insulin and diet according to your exercise plan. You may consult your doctor for essential changes before staring on a workout plan.
Start exercising today!
If you’re a diabetic, no matter what the type, or a pre-diabetic, you need to start with an exercise routine today! Few minutes of exercise daily will save you from endless diabetes complications and will stop the progression of the disease too. So act now!