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Exercise prescribed to tackle type 2 diabetes

By Chukwuma Muanya, Assistant Editor (Head Insight Team, Science and Technology)
15 January 2016   |   2:26 am
PRESCRIBING exercise could be key to treating type 2 diabetes , scientists revealed. Exercise has been found to improve blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure and cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
Training-free

Exercise has been found to improve blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure and cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes. PHOTO CREDIT: google.com/search

• 150 minutes walking, swimming or running each week ‘helps control blood sugar, insulin insensitivity’ as disease raises risk of getting dementia by 60%

PRESCRIBING exercise could be key to treating type 2 diabetes , scientists revealed.
Exercise has been found to improve blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure and cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

Yet, most people with diabetes do not engage in regular exercise, according to a new study.
Thus, doctors should write exercise prescriptions for these patients, experts said.
The prescriptions should specify the type, duration, intensity and frequency of workouts, adapted to the individual.
The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Lead study author Dr. Romeu Mendes of the Public Health Unit, ACES Douro I—Marao e Douro Norte in Portugal, told Reuters: “Exercise and physical activity can help to control type 2 diabetes.

Lead study author Dr. Romeu Mendes of the Public Health Unit, ACES Douro I—Marao e Douro Norte in Portugal, told Reuters: “Exercise and physical activity can help to control type 2 diabetes.
“There are many successful case-studies of patients who reversed metabolic dysfunction only with lifestyle changes (exercise plus diet)’, but the benefits disappear when healthy diet and regular exercise stop.”

He added: “Diabetes is a chronic disease and must be managed for life. Regular exercise and a healthy nutritional pattern are the basis for the treatment.”
The team of scientists analysed published recommendations and guidelines for exercise prescriptions for people with type 2 diabetes for the study.

Those recommendations had been issued by international scientific organizations in a range of fields, including diabetology, endocrinology, cardiology, public health and sports medicine.
Furthermore, 11 of the guidelines had been published by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, American Diabetes Association, Francophone Diabetes Society and Swedish National Institute of Health.

Meanwhile, patients with type 2 diabetes are 60 per cent more likely to develop dementia, a study has claimed.
Women with diabetes were more likely to get vascular dementia – caused by reduced blood supply to the brain because of damage to blood vessels – than men, researchers found.

It occurs following a stroke or when the blood vessels supplying the brain become furred up or blocked.
The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is non-vascular, the study by Curtin University in Perth, Australia.

Study author Rachel Huxley said diabetics can cut their chances of dementia by giving up smoking and drinking, exercising more and eating healthily.
Researchers reviewed 14 studies involving more than 2.3 million people, including more than 100,000 dementia patients, and reported their findings in Diabetes Care.
“In Alzheimer’s disease, nerve cells throughout the brain die off, and abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain for reasons not entirely known,” said Ms Huxley.
“Vascular dementia, in contrast, is the result of impaired blood flow to the brain, usually by a series of small, imperceptible strokes.”

Diabetes in women seems to lead to more risk for other conditions as well.
“These findings add to the evidence that diabetes confers a greater vascular hazard in women compared with men,” she said.
“Diabetes confers a greater risk of developing heart disease, stroke and now vascular dementia in women compared with men.”
Overall, people with diabetes were 60 percent more likely to develop any dementia than people without diabetes.
Women with diabetes were more than twice as likely as those without it to develop vascular dementia, compared to a smaller increase in risk for men with diabetes.

More research is needed to look into how sugar in the blood interacts with the blood vessels and whether that process is different in women in men, she said.
Women tend to be under-treated for vascular risks relative to men, the study found.
Other factors, such as obesity, could form part of the relationship between dementia and diabetes, which is why a healthy lifestyle is important to lessen the risk of both diseases, she concluded.

Mendes said: “We were not aware that there were so many scientific organizations issuing specific recommendations for exercise prescription in this population.”

All of the guidelines specified that people with type 2 diabetes should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise per week.
That exercise should be spread over at least three days a week, with resistance exercise at least twice weekly.

The workout could include aerobic exercise, according to the guidelines, which entails brisk walking, running, cycling, swimming or other activites.
Resistance exercise should target large muscle groups with machines or free weights, the guidelines suggest.
Additionally, some institutions recommended flexibility training, as well.
Mendes said: “The ultimate and most important variable for people is quality of life.”
He noted that exercise particularly improves health-related quality of life. The medical community agrees that exercise has indisputable life-saving benefits.

However, there is limited research on the benefits of exercise among people with diabetes, according to Dr. Huseyin Naci, a health policy researcher at the London School of Economics.
Naci, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Reuters: “According to our previous research, there is a bias against testing exercise.
“Medical research increasingly favors drug interventions over strategies to modify lifestyle.
“The vast majority of patients with type 2 diabetes do not engage in regular exercise.
“This may be explained by insufficient awareness about the potential benefits of exercise and the lack of specific knowledge about current recommendations.”

But, doctors must do more than just advise patients to increase their exercise levels, Naci said.
Instead, they must issue prescriptions that include specific information to the type, mode, duration, intensity and weekly frequency of the exercise.

Also, the exercise strategies should be adapted for each individual, based on other health conditions, contraindications and realistic personal goals.
Naci said: “According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly one third of doctors prescribe exercise in primary care.
“This is promising, but more doctors should discuss and give brief advice to their patients about the benefits of exercise and refer patients with diabetes to structured exercise programmes.”

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