2020 Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move
2020 Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move
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| Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move |
I heard from
somebody's sources that people with diabetes are - could not or
should not exercise.
The only way you're
really gonna get that A1c count down is to move where I am.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move I don't like to exercise, but from
what's discovered when I exercise I feel better and it's very good
for you and it helps keep your numbers down in terms of weekly
glucose levels.
I used to wonder why they used to emphasize that
and then I stopped eating as much as I used to and I didn't lose the weight that I thought I would reduce one just not eating.
So then, I
started exercising and I noticed that my weight did come
down and I
did feel better.
Hello, I'm Dr. Regina Benjamin, United States Surgeon General.
Along with diet, medication, and testing your blood sugar,
exercise is
crucial to managing your glucose.
In fact, it's just as
important as the pills or the insulin you take.
People with diabetes
often have to take multiple medicines to control their blood sugar,
their blood pressure, and blood cholesterol, and that can be very
inconvenient and some doctors have talked about a polypill where all
of those medicines would be rolled into one pill taken once a day and
make it easier for the patient, but if you ey have to
take or perhaps even eliminate them altogether.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move If you have type 2
diabetes, exercise can help you in a number of ways.
Blood sugar is also known as glucose is a primary fuel for muscles as they do their work.
Physical activity helps the muscles use glucose instead of letting them build up in the blood.
Physical activity helps the muscles use glucose instead of letting them build up in the blood.
Lowering blood sugar improves
your heart health and protects your eyes, your feet, your nerves, and
your kidneys.
Physical activity keeps your joints and bones healthier
and helps control your blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight.
It also makes you feel better and improves your quality of life.
Now
that I'm maintaining an exercise regimen, I'm not as tired as I used
to be.
I'm moving more and I have more energy and I'm not coming home
in the evening and falling asleep on the bed.
I began to notice that I can
sleep better at night.
In fact, I needed alone with less sleep.
I
found that since I've exercised my blood sugars are lower and my
insulin usage is down and I think that's a good thing, you know.
People who should be screened before starting an
exercise program who
have diabetes are those over the age of 40 and have at least two
cardiovascular disease risks factors like high blood pressure or high
cholesterol and people who have a family history of premature heart
disease.
It's important to tell your doctor when you are about to
start an exercise program because they may need to make adjustments
in your medications.
It may also be necessary for them to make
adjustments to your meal plan.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move It's important to have realistic
expectations about the activity so you can be most successful.
Keep in
mind that if you haven't exercise for many, many years, you're not
gonna become fit overnight or even weeks.
It may take several months
so it's important to start slowly, build up over time, although we
set a goal of 30 to 40 minutes a day, the first week, you might only
be able to do 10 minutes.
When I start exercising on the elliptical
machine, I can only do about 2 minutes.
I'm gonna die on this machine because, you know, I'm
exercising and I'm out of breath and my legs are hurting.
You can
break it up into shorter periods of time.
For example, 10 minutes in
the morning, 10 minutes at lunchtime, 10 minutes in the afternoon, and
then over time, over weeks, and months, try to consolidate that so
you can go for 30 minutes, 40 minutes nonstop.
Gradually as the weeks
went on, then I was doing 5 minutes and then I challenge myself to do
maybe 7 minutes and then challenge with 10 minutes and
so after a
while I was doing 20.
You know I started out with step aerobics
because it didn't look that hard for me.
But once I got into it, I
found out that it was really hard but it's something I had to just
continue to do and after a while, I'll just think of it pretty much
as dancing.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move You know, I learned to like it.
So, it's important to
find the form of exercise that you're enjoying so that you can do it
consistently because you'll be more likely to stick to your routine
and exercise, even if you aren't losing weight is still beneficial
for several reasons.
It helps to relieve stress.
It helps to lower
your blood pressure and cholesterol and it also helps your body to
use your diabetes medications better.
Although it's important to
choose an activity that's fun, you also need to make sure that the
exercise does not harm your health.
There are several ways you can
keep yourself safe while exercising; exercise with someone who knows
you have diabetes and knows what to do if you have a low blood sugar
reaction, wear a medical ID bracelet that says you have diabetes and
test your blood sugar often so you know how your body reacts to
exercise.
There are three different types of physical activity and
they each benefit your body in different ways.
Aerobic exercise
benefits your heart and lungs, resistance exercise also called
strength training builds muscles and increases endurance, and
flexibility exercises increase your range of motion.
Let's start with
aerobic exercise.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move There are exercises during which you carry your
bodyweight on your feet like running or walking and other types of
exercise like swimming or bicycling during which your body weight is
supported by water or a machine.
Both approaches give you the same
health benefits.
They burn calories, improve your heart and
circulation, reduce body fats, and improve your muscle's ability to
use blood sugar more efficiently.
If you have problems with pain or
numbness in your feet, you should consider doing exercises like
swimming or bicycling rather than walking or running because you're
not carrying your weight.
These activities are more gentle on your
feet and on your joints.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move Let's look at resistance training.
You choose your muscles to generate force.
For example, lifting weights or household objects such as cans of soup or bottles of water area form of resistance training.
Resistance training burns calories reduces body fat and increases your metabolism, muscle strength, bone density, and the body's ability to use insulin and burn sugar.
You choose your muscles to generate force.
For example, lifting weights or household objects such as cans of soup or bottles of water area form of resistance training.
Resistance training burns calories reduces body fat and increases your metabolism, muscle strength, bone density, and the body's ability to use insulin and burn sugar.
To find the right starting weight for you, find something you can
lift 12 or 15 times without getting tired.
Once 15 lifts become easy, you can go from a half-gallon of something to a gallon or if you're lifting weights, you can increase the weight by 5 or 10 pounds.
Once 15 lifts become easy, you can go from a half-gallon of something to a gallon or if you're lifting weights, you can increase the weight by 5 or 10 pounds.
No
matter what you are lifting, make sure you breathe freely and try not
to hold your breath.
Aerobic exercise should be done more frequently three to five times a week.
Aerobic exercise should be done more frequently three to five times a week.
If you have an amputation and you're on a
wheelchair, you can do some of the same exercises in the wheelchair
that you would do on a regular chair.
So, upper body exercises will still, improve your overall health as well as increase your wheelchair mobility.
So, upper body exercises will still, improve your overall health as well as increase your wheelchair mobility.
In addition to aerobics and resistance training, you should
also, do some flexibility or stretching exercises.
Yoga and Tai Chi help maintain balance and many community centers and gyms offer classes.
You can also do this at home.
Yoga and Tai Chi help maintain balance and many community centers and gyms offer classes.
You can also do this at home.
Stretching keeps the joint
healthy.
You can use stretching as a warm-up and cool down for 5 to 10 minutes before and after any type of physical activity.
You can use stretching as a warm-up and cool down for 5 to 10 minutes before and after any type of physical activity.
The
stretches can be done almost anywhere and what stretch does is move
the joint through what we call a range of motion.
is to do it slowly.
You don't wanna bounce coz bouncing in a sudden jerking action can actually lead to injury where stretching really is designed to help avoid injury and soreness.
You don't wanna bounce coz bouncing in a sudden jerking action can actually lead to injury where stretching really is designed to help avoid injury and soreness.
If you have
diabetes, there are several other things to think about when you
start becoming physically active. Don't ignore pain.
Stop if
something hurts.
Otherwise, you may cause stress or damage to your joints.
Examine your feet regularly.
For diabetes, you may not feel pain and won't know if you have an injury like a blister or an ulcer.
Drink water before, during, and after exercise so you don't get dehydrated.
Otherwise, you may cause stress or damage to your joints.
Examine your feet regularly.
For diabetes, you may not feel pain and won't know if you have an injury like a blister or an ulcer.
Drink water before, during, and after exercise so you don't get dehydrated.
Have some type of carbohydrate food available like hard
candy or crackers in case your blood sugar drops.
medications, and exercise schedule.
medications, and exercise schedule.
I usually carry
either banana, cracker, or something with me and a bottle of water to
help keep my blood sugar levels normal so I don't have a drop.
It's important for me to keep mine up because I know once it started to drop I started to feel lightheaded.
It's important for me to keep mine up because I know once it started to drop I started to feel lightheaded.
If you have diabetes and you're
exercising, you should be aware of developing blurred vision,
confusion, sweatiness that's more than what you would normally have
with exercise or feeling excessively hungry or shaky, those could all
be signs of low blood sugar-also called hypoglycemia.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move So if those
symptoms occur, you should eat at something with simple sugar in it
such as a graham cracker or drink a drink with simple sugar such as
orange juice.
It's important
to get specific
shoes for exercise because they can help to prevent injury by
protecting your feet, your knees, and your hips, and also they provide
the appropriate cushioning that you need which is very different than
your every day sneakers.
So, it's important to go to a sporting goods
store to be specifically fitted for the correct walking and exercise
shoes.
Protect your feet daily when you have diabetes because you may
have developed an injury or a lesion particularly
if you something called neuropathy or you may have nerve damage from diabetes and don't feel when your feet are injured.
So the things specifically that you should talk to your doctor about are new cuts or bruises, calluses, redness or swelling, or anything else in your feet that's of concern to you.
if you something called neuropathy or you may have nerve damage from diabetes and don't feel when your feet are injured.
So the things specifically that you should talk to your doctor about are new cuts or bruises, calluses, redness or swelling, or anything else in your feet that's of concern to you.
It's also helpful to set aside a certain time each
week to exercise.
For example, if you plan to exercise every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, mark those days on your calendar so you make a real commitment to yourself.
For example, if you plan to exercise every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, mark those days on your calendar so you make a real commitment to yourself.
something you
do regularly every week.
The benefits of exercise are actually firmly short live so if you go out and take a walk, you lower your blood sugar, but after a couple of days it will go right back up.
The benefits of exercise are actually firmly short live so if you go out and take a walk, you lower your blood sugar, but after a couple of days it will go right back up.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move So, it's
important to do the exercise on a regular basis so that the benefits
are always there.
The best approach to controlling diabetes and preventing its complications is to take all of your medications as your doctor directs and also to engage in anaerobic as well as resistance training as a form of exercise.
The best approach to controlling diabetes and preventing its complications is to take all of your medications as your doctor directs and also to engage in anaerobic as well as resistance training as a form of exercise.
This does not only helps to
improve blood sugar but also lowers blood pressure and blood
cholesterol.
It is important to try to do at least some form of exercise every other day.
You don't have to belong to a gym to get the benefits of exercise.
It is important to try to do at least some form of exercise every other day.
You don't have to belong to a gym to get the benefits of exercise.
Going up and downstairs is great
exercise.
Stand up and walk around in the house while you're talking on the telephone.
Read MoreStand up and walk around in the house while you're talking on the telephone.
Some people find this more fun and helpful to do it
with a partner.
The two of you can motivate and encourage each other to stick with whatever type of physical activity you want to do.
I find that exercise once you make it a part of your regimen, it actually becomes easier not only that, it becomes fun.
The more I do, the more I enjoyed it. I really do.
The two of you can motivate and encourage each other to stick with whatever type of physical activity you want to do.
I find that exercise once you make it a part of your regimen, it actually becomes easier not only that, it becomes fun.
The more I do, the more I enjoyed it. I really do.
Diabetes and Exercise - Decide to Move So, if I don't do it three times
a week, I really miss it.
Agree about what you're going to do this a week and what you're gonna do next week and start with little steps and then a big step will take care of themselves in the future.
My weight has gotten a little smaller but still not to the point where I feel comfortable.
I have a long way to go, but I haven't given up, you know.
Agree about what you're going to do this a week and what you're gonna do next week and start with little steps and then a big step will take care of themselves in the future.
My weight has gotten a little smaller but still not to the point where I feel comfortable.
I have a long way to go, but I haven't given up, you know.
I think - I think I can pull this one-off.
Before you
know it, it's just that an everyday practice.
It's like breathing out
and breathing in, that's something you do.
We hope this program,
helps you decide to move.
Be sure to talk to your own doctor or
clinician if you have any questions or concerns about starting to
become physically active.
Good luck and good health and have fun.
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