All forms of exercise help in diabetes control

Combining resistance training, such as weight lifting, with aerobic workouts is beneficial for long-term control of blood sugar. Researchers from the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand found that the effects of exercise on blood sugar were small and were similar to those achieved with medication and diet changes. This suggests that putting all three together could have a more substantial effect. Exercise is a mainstay of therapy for type 2 diabetes, given that physical inactivity increases diabetes risk and glucose intolerance. To determine which types of exercise might be most helpful in controlling blood sugar, the researchers analysed 27 studies including 1,003 patients to determine the effects of different types of exercise on haemoglobin A1c, a measure of how well a person's blood sugar is controlled long-term. For any type of exercise training lasting 12 weeks or longer, the researchers found, haemoglobin A1c levels fell by 0.8 percent. There was some evidence that combining aerobic exercise with resistance training had more of an effect than either type of exercise alone. But more intense exercise programs did not appear to be more effective, possibly because they were more difficult for people to continue. The researchers also found that exercise had a stronger effect on people with more severe disease. The actual cardiovascular risk reduction with exercise for diabetes patients is small. But one should not conclude that exercise is not worth the effort, as the combination of exercise, diet and medication can produce a moderate or even large risk reduction.