Exercises for Diabetics

Featuring Min Naruki-van Velzen, MSc

Duration: 1 minute, 48 seconds

Physical activity and exercise is actually one of the best things you can do to prevent and manage diabetes.

There are really two types of physical activity that help out with controlling blood sugars - aerobic or cardiovascular exercise, that's really anything that will get your heart rate elevated, and includes things like walking, or kayaking, or joining a local fitness program.

And then strength training actually helps out tremendously with controlling blood sugars, far more than we thought previously. And strengthening activities, traditionally, we think about things like lifting weights and going to the gym but there's a whole host of activities that provide a strengthening stimulus, things like rowing and more advanced forms of yoga and fusion-type yogas that involve very high aerobic and strength demands.  All those types of things promote an increase in insulin sensitivity which ultimately will help out lower blood sugars.

In pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes often early on it's not so much about your sugars being really high but your body being insensitive to the hormone insulin, which is important in regulating blood sugar.

And probably the best thing you can do to improve insulin sensitivity is add in exercise or more physical activity. Both strength training and aerobic exercise help to increase insulin sensitivity and if you increase the sensitivity to insulin, your blood sugars ultimately come down and your pancreas doesn't have to work quite so hard.

If you want more information about appropriate exercise if you have type 2 diabetes or you're trying to prevent type 2 diabetes ask your family doctor to be referred to a cardiac rehab program or clinical exercise specialist.

Presenter: Mr. Min Naruki-van Velzen, Athletic Therapist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Athletic Therapist