Exercise recommendations for diabetics used to be fairly hard; 30 – 40 minutes of moderate exercise 3 or 4 times a week. Recent studies show that you can benefit from exercising by carrying out physical exercise if it is mild to moderate but done for shorter periods of time every day of the week.
This sounds as good for most major excuses people give for not exercising is lack of time. In fact, the more you exercise the better off you will be.
Continues reading to learn the types of exercises, simple exercises, and the approximate number of calories burned in 30 minutes daily if you are planning exercise as a diabetic
Types of Physical Exercise
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Aerobic Exercise:
Aerobic exercise helps your heart, lungs, and blood vessels by increasing your body’s ability to use oxygen and thus reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases.
Aerobic exercise is perfect if you are diabetic. It is done continuously, rhythmically, in the interval, and for endurance. Running and walking are the two best aerobic exercises for a lot of people.
If you are above 40years of age, you should stick to walking except you’re an experienced runner. You can get all the benefits of aerobic exercise from walking, it is free, everyone can do it, you do not need a specific location, and can be done at any time.
Walking is good for relaxing, controlling blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, and increasing blood circulation especially for your feet.
Recent studies show that aerobic exercise also helps lower blood lipid levels, with weight loss, reduce stress, increase muscle tone and strength, and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Examples of aerobic exercises include; jumping rope, taking aerobic classes, rebounding on a trampoline, riding a stationary or real bicycle, using skiing, practicing tai chi.
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Anaerobic exercise:
Anaerobic exercise is often very intense and uses energy stored in your muscles.
Examples of anaerobic exercise include;
- weight lifting
- calisthenics.
These exercises are not particularly effective in improving cardiovascular conditions. Calisthenics helps to develop and improve the range of motion in joints and muscles. If you are diabetic, you will benefit more from aerobic than anaerobic exercises.
Intensity of Activity
You should apply common sense when planning to exercise to know your level of exercise intensity. Exercise experts classify intensity levels into;
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The moderate activity of short duration:
This involves walking a mile or bicycling for less than 30minutes
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The moderate activity of intermediate duration:
Examples of such exercise include; swimming, tennis, jogging, leisurely bicycling, gardening, golfing, or vacuuming for 1hour.
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The intense activity of long duration:
Examples are; football, hockey, strenuous bicycling, shoveling heavy snow, skiing, or hiking for 2hours or more.
Table 1: Simple Exercises and Approximate Number of Calories Burned in 30Minutes.
EXERCISE |
CALORIES BURNED |
Sitting | 40 |
Sleeping | 50 |
Driving | 50 |
Walking 2 mph | 110 |
Bowling | 125 |
Housework | 140 |
Horseback riding | 175 |
Square dancing | 175 |
Swimming leisurely | 200 |
Bicycling leisurely | 200 |
Tennis (doubles), weeding, raking | 200 |
Walking 4 mph | 225 |
Playing golf, mowing the lawn | 225 |
Ice skating | 235 |
Cycling 5.5mph | 250 |
Scrubbing floors | 270 |
Tennis (singles), digging, hoeing | 270 |
Skiing 10 mph | 300 |
Squash and handball | 300 |
Jogging 5.5 mph | 320 |
Jogging 5 mph | 350 |
Cycling 13 mph | 500 |
Conclusion
If you are diabetic taking insulin and you plan to exercise strenuously for long periods of time, you need to consult your doctor or sport medical specialist about how to incorporate food intake and insulin injections with your exercise program.
You should also check out the best type of exercise that fits your level of intensity.
Exercise is beneficial to maintain a controlled blood sugar level especially in type 2 diabetes and if you’re obese.
Take action today, continue slowly and make it a fun part of your daily living with a goal to control your blood sugar and stay healthier!