Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease.
Type 1 diabetes often occurs in children and young adults. These individuals are “insulin-dependent” because the pancreas produces little or no insulin and must depend on daily insulin injections.
Type 2 diabetes is common among adults over the age of 40 and affects a cell’s ability to respond to insulin. This type of diabetes is usually less severe and can often be controlled with diet, exercise and weight management.
Exercise benefits:
- Physical activity promotes a healthy body weight, which helps effectively control blood glucose levels. Excess weight is an independent risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. “Exercise training is the most important medical prescription for any person with Type 2 diabetes, combined with weight loss interventions” (Moore, G., Durstine, J. L., Painter, P., 2016).
- Regular exercise improves cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease (Nitschke, E., 2017).
- Exercise lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality.
Exercise guidelines:
- Encourage participants to sit less and move more. Fit in five or ten minutes a day as it all adds up at the end of the day.
- Recommend participants start with light to medium effort and gradually increase pace and duration of exercise sessions, as tolerated.
- Avoid exercise if unusually fatigued or experiencing illness.
- Promote foot care and wearing supportive shoes for those who experience neuropathy.
SilverSneakers class recommendations:
- Classic is designed to improve strength and stamina. Gradually increase exercise intensity as tolerated by participant.
- Circuit, if tolerated.
- SilverSneakers Yoga and EnerChi provide lower-intensity options to increase flexibility and manage blood sugar levels safely.
Instructor tips for participants with diabetes:
- Encourage participants to exercise at the same time each day for consistency in maintaining blood glucose levels.
- Remind participants to exercise one or two hours after a meal and carry carbohydrate snacks.
- Be sure participants drink water before, during and after exercise.
- Create a safe environment with clean air and comfortable temperatures.
- Encourage participants to consult a physician for bruises, cuts or foot injuries.