Exercise or physical activity is essential when you're living with diabetes. It's a natural way to regulate blood sugar levels by increasing cells' sensitivity to insulin, according to Maggie Greenwood Robinson, author of "Control Diabetes in 6 Easy Steps." Exercise also reduces your risk of diabetes complications such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Even if you have diabetes, you can participate in a wide variety of exercises safely --- but a few precautions might be necessary.
Types of Exercise
Your exercise routine for managing diabetes and overall health should include aerobic, strength-training and flexibility exercises, according to the American Diabetes Association, or ADA. Aerobic, or cardiovascular, exercises strengthen heart muscle, increase your heart rate and improve circulation. Weight training helps to maintain lean muscle mass and strengthen bones, while flexibility exercises keep your joints functioning smoothly and help you avoid injury, notes the ADA.
Safe Exercise Ideas
Aerobic exercises you can do safely with diabetes include walking, dancing, low-impact aerobics, water aerobics or swimming and cycling, according to the American Diabetes Association, or ADA. For strength training, you can work out at home or the gym with free weights, resistance bands, plastic tubes or a weight machine. Stretching for 5 to 10 minutes each day can help to improve flexibility. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons provides a range of stretches in its "Warm Up, Cool Down and Be Flexible" article that you can do at home or the gym, such as quadriceps stretch, hamstring stretch and upper-body stretches.
Harmful Exercises
Consult your doctor about performing strenuous strength-training or high-impact exercises if you have uncontrolled diabetes or you're not used to exercising. The University of Maryland Medical Center, or UMMC, warns that these types of exercises can injure blood vessels in your feet and strain weakened blood vessels in our eyes if you have retinopathy, or damage to your retina.
Precautions
If your blood glucose levels are higher than 300 mg/dL or under 100 mg/dL, you might need to avoid exercise, according to UMMC, which recommends checking blood glucose levels before, during and after exercising. Do not inject insulin in areas near the muscles you'll be using during exercise and always wear comfortable, supportive shoes to protect your feet.
References
- "Control Diabetes in 6 Easy Steps"; Maggie Greenwood-Robinson; 2002
- American Diabetes Association: Types of Exercise
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Warm Up, Cool Down and Be Flexible
