Controlling Diabetes by the Minutes
January 10th, 2009 Posted by: AnaLise
Diabetes is usually not controlled by one thing alone, such as diet, but by a combination of things that work together on the body to regulate diabetes and its symptoms.
One of the tools that has always been suggested to combat diabetes is exercise. Exercise has an effect on blood glucose levels, as well as heart rate, blood pressure and other levels in the body.
Recently in Britain a study determined that blood glucose levels can be kept under control simply by walking for 45 minutes. Performed by Newcastle University, the study found that walking improved the body’s ability to store sugar and burn fat. According to the study, after a few weeks of doing this regularly, the effects of diabetes were reduced. This is especially true for individuals with late onset or type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes has often been linked to sedentary lifestyle, which includes a lack of exercise, and obesity, which is often the result of a sedentary lifestyle combined with poor eating habits.
If diabetes is not treated and brought under control, it progresses and it leads to blood vessel damage, risk of stroke and heart attack, visual problems including blindness, kidney damage and, because of cardiovascular issues, can result in amputation of limbs.
The studies at Newcastle give individuals with diabetes an immediate tool in the arsenal against the symptoms of diabetes without having to add another medication to their regimen. Even if an individual begins by exercising for just a few minutes every day and builds up to 45 minutes, it will still do some good.
The studies also showed that more active individuals were able to store more sugar in their muscles and they were able to burn more fat. Since the muscles store most of the sugar in the body, if they are unable to absorb enough sugar, the sugar ends up in the bloodstream keeping the levels too high. This causes damage to the veins, arteries and many of the organs, leading to long term problems, escalating diabetes symptoms and often leading to blindness, amputation, dialysis or death.
If you or someone you know or love has diabetes, it is important to know that it doesn’t take hours in the gym to try to control it. It will help to walk for a few minutes a day and work up to 45 minutes every day. It will improve a person’s health and life, and it very well could save it.
