At Longevity Nexum Kinesiology in Barrie, one of the most important things for us is to help people maintain their long term health. With diabetes, this puts long term health at risk and can lead to problems with vision, nerves in the feet and hands, ulcers and amputation.
In short, exercise allows people living with Type 2 diabetes to better control their blood glucose level. This happens by utilizing glucose on a muscular level, which will decrease the presence of glucose in the blood without affecting the body’s level of insulin.
Secondly, if you are ‘insulin resistant’ (being resistant or unresponsive to the hormone insulin, which causes blood sugar to increase), exercise can assist in becoming more ‘insulin sensitive’, which in the long term can allow you to use glucose more effectively. In the long term, this can assist with decreasing the risk of long-term health consequences. These include heart-related diseases and conditions, and stroke.
What are the official guidelines to achieve optimal health?
As recommended by the Canadian government and confirmed by Diabetes Canada, the 24 hour movement guidelines for adults are as follows:
- Accumulate at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic training each week.
- Do muscle strengthening every major muscle group at least twice per week
- Include physical activities that challenge balance multiple times per week
What exercises can I do to help manage my Type 2 Diabetes?
Starting with low impact exercises that use large muscle groups and are rhythmic in nature such as walking, swimming or cycling are all very good to help get your body moving. From there it is important to also include resistance-based exercises such as:
- Sit to stands or squats
- Push ups
- Lunges
- Planks
- Free weights
- Machine based resistance training
- Therabands
Remember that everyone is an individual and has a different starting point in their health and fitness journey so these exercises may not be suitable for you, seeing a Registered Kinesiologist at Longevity downtown Barrie is the best way to ensure you receive a tailored program and something that is suitable for your level. A combination of aerobic and resistance exercise is the best way to manage blood glucose levels, so speak to your Exercise Physiologist about how you can achieve this.
Contact Longevity Nexum Kinesiology on (905) 244-3075 or send an email to info@longevitynexum.ca to see how we can help you!
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