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DR. HOLLY ATKINSON: Welcome to HealthiNation; I'm Doctor Holly Atkinson. You have diabetes
so you eat well, right? But are you exercising? Dr. Derek LaRoith, Chief of the Endocrinology,
Diabetes and Bone Disease Departments at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, says you should
be. I asked him, "what exercise is best for people with diabetes?"
DOCTOR DEREK LeROITH: Physical exercise by itself, even in the absence of weight loss,
is actually equally good. If you exercise, you're able to put sugar, glucose into your
muscle much more easily; that makes your muscle more sensitive to insulin which is one of
the problems that the Type II diabetic has, so the blood glucose will come down from the
exercise; their blood pressure will come down and their lipids will come down and their
cardiovascular system will improve and so it can delay many of those complications.
DR. HOLLY ATKINSON: Are there any forms of exercise that we know are better than any
others in helping diabetics control their blood sugar?
DOCTOR DEREK LeROITH: There are many studies that suggest one form or the other; aerobic
exercises versus muscle strengthening exercises and actually each of them have been shown
to give you positive outcomes. Any exercise for about twenty to thirty minutes five or
six days a week is gonna make a big improvement in the diabetic's control of their sugar,
blood pressure and their lipids. You often see people walking, particularly in the bad
weather, that walk in the malls and try to get their thirty minutes of exercise.
DR. HOLLY ATKINSON: What combination is the ideal for helping control blood sugar? Is
there one?
DOCTOR DEREK LeROITH: Well, I think aerobic exercise, uh, for example, on the treadmill,
if you go on a treadmill for thirty minutes and actually run and get your heart rate up,
and again, diabetics have to be careful because they need their physician to first determine
if they have any cardiovascular disease; you don't want to suddenly precipitate any side
effect from the exercise, and aerobic exercise for thirty minutes probably is the best, uh,
even though strengthening the muscle also improves the blood-glucose reduction, et cetera,
I think the aerobic exercise is probably the best way to go.
DR. HOLLY ATKINSON: But if you can put the two together, is that even better?
DOCTOR DEREK LeROITH: Even better, I think the right combination is first to go on a
diet to lose weight and then to start exercising to maintain the weight reduction and there
are some very good studies that have shown that individuals who lose weight by dieting
and have the tendency to put back the weight, when you then exercise, you overcome that
effect.
DR. HOLLY ATKINSON: We got some questions from some people with diabetes, hum, this
is from Hallie my mother developed diabetes later in life; am I likely to do the same?
And what might I do to prevent it?
DOCTOR DEREK LeROITH: Let's assume the majority of late onset diabetes or Type II: it runs
in families, it's genetic and uhm, what that means is any of the individuals in the family
have a possibility of developing diabetes. The major thing to prevent diabetes from developing
in a pre-disposed individual, like the daughter, is weight control; if she can continue to
keep her weight down and to exercise, there's a very good chance that she will delay any
chance of developing diabetes.
DR. HOLLY ATKINSON: So, here's the insight: exercise is good for diabetics even if you
aren't trying to lose weight; so commit to doing some kind of workout, five to six days
a week, for at least twenty-thirty minutes; you'll see positive effects from both aerobic
and strength training exercises but remember, check with your doctor before you start any
exercise regimen.