Diabetes Spectrum 18:119-120, 2005
© American Diabetes Association ®, Inc., 2005
Diabetes Spectrum/Patient Information |
What's In It For You?
Exercise is important for everyone, but not always for the same reasons.
 |
Introduction
|
|---|
Why bother with exercise? Why spend time running around, jumping around,
and getting hot and sweaty? What's the payoff?
|
Live Long and Prosper
|
|---|
For starters, how about happiness and long life? Exercise offers a wide
range of benefits. It helps control weight, lowers blood pressure, lowers
cholesterol, cuts the risk of heart attack, strengthens your immune system,
eases arthritis pain, protects against osteoporosis, fends off some forms of
cancer, keeps your thinking sharp in old age, and even brightens your
mood.
As if all of this were not enough, exercise can also improve blood glucose
control.
|
Slow Down Diabetes
|
|---|
Moderate exercise can reduce the need for diabetes medicines or insulin. It
can also can slow the progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes.
But "moderate" means just that. Don't try to run a marathon on
your first outing. A brisk walk, for 15 minutes twice a day—or even a
shorter walk, if you've been a couch potato for years—will do you more
good than you imagine.
If you change your routine and start to exercise, tell your doctor. He or
she will want to monitor you more closely and may want to change your
medicines.
|
Exercise for Life
|
|---|
It's never too late to start. It's never too early, either. Through the
life span, exercise can:
- Fight childhood obesity. An estimated 15 percent of American
children and teens aged 6 to 19—roughly 9 million kids—are obese.
Families and schools are urged to establish healthy diets, cut junk food and
sugary sodas, and promote exercise. Limit kids' TV time, send them out to
play, and encourage schools to expand physical education programs.
The payoff for children will be reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Exercise
also will reduce their risk of developing other diseases, either as children
or as adults, and will improve their emotional health.
- Improve teens' physical and mental health. For teens, physical
activity strengthens bones and joints, builds lean muscle mass, and can delay
the development of high blood pressure. For girls, exercise in their teens or
even earlier builds stronger bones, which protects against osteoporosis later
in life.
Exercise also can reduce teens' depression and anxiety, heighten
self-esteem, and provide a feeling of social well-being.
- Reduce stress and increase well-being in midlife. For adults in the
high-stress midlife years when family, career, and financial pressures gang
up, exercise can be a marvelous mood-enhancer. People who are physically
active are far less likely to be depressed, tense, confused, stressed out, and
anxious.
Midlife is also the time when such killers as heart disease and cancer
first begin to strike broadly, so midlifers may have the most to gain from the
lower death rates that come with regular exercise. In addition to protecting
against heart disease, exercise appears to cut the risk of colon cancer,
breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and prostate cancer.
- Keep seniors healthy. For seniors, the most important benefit from
exercise probably is that it helps them stay mobile and independent. Regular
exercise can fight the muscle wastage and frailty that makes it impossible for
some elders to care for themselves. Exercise can even help to rebuild weakened
muscles. It can also improve balance, helping seniors avoid falls and broken
bones.
The worst fear of many seniors is loss of their mental sharpness. Exercise
may help here, too. Studies have shown that physical training improves mental
function in seniors with dementia. In fact, merely walking may reduce the risk
of dementia in people who are in their 70s or older.
Why exercise improves mental function isn't known. Maybe human beings,
young to old, just work better when they move around.
|
Covering All the Bases
|
|---|
When you decide to start exercising, it's easiest to do something you
already know how to do. That's why walking is a good first step. But a
well-rounded physical activity program includes other elements as well. The
major exercise groups are:
- Endurance exercises, such as brisk walking, bike-riding, dancing,
stair-climbing, or even heavy yard work. These pump up breathing and heart
rate, increase energy, build stamina, and improve heart health.
- Strength or resistance exercises, such as weightlifting,
weightpushing, or resistance-band stretching. These help tone muscle, build
muscles, improve bone health, and reduce the risk of falling.
- Stretching exercises, such as side hip rotation or trying to touch
your toes. These improve flexibility and freedom of movement.
- Balance exercises, such as side leg raising or standing on one foot
for as long as you can. These are particularly important for seniors.
 CiteULike  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati What's this?
|
|
|
Top
Introduction
Live Long and Prosper