Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease in which blood glucose levels are too high. This condition is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, and lower-limb amputation.
“Over time, excess glucose in the blood can cause health problems. Although diabetes has no cure, the person with diabetes can take steps to control their disease and stay healthy”, add the National Institutes of Health of the United States (NIH, for its acronym in English).
For people who have diabetes, exercising is an alternative to combat diabetes. As explained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “physical activity makes your body more sensitive to insulin (the hormone that allows the body’s cells to use blood sugar for energy) , which helps manage diabetes. Physical activity also helps control blood sugar levels and reduces the risk of heart disease and nerve damage.”
In addition to being a key tool for regulating blood glucose, exercising has many benefits for the body. The World Health Organization mentions them:
- Reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Improves the general well-being of the organism.
- Helps prevent non-communicable diseases.
- It guarantees the good growth and development of young people.
- Reduces the risk of falls, fractures and injuries.
- Helps maintain a healthy weight.
- Sleep better.
- Improve memory.
- Control blood pressure.
- Lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and increase HDL (“good”) cholesterol.
The CDC recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity weekly. This can be achieved through at least 25 minutes of exercise a day. Some examples of this type can be walking fast, mowing the lawn, cleaning, dancing, swimming, riding a bicycle or playing sports.
recommendations
Before starting to exercise, it is important to consult a doctor about the type of exercise that is best for you, taking into account the state of health of each individual. It is important to stay hydrated and drink fluids when doing physical activity.
One of the recommendations indicated by the CDC is to check the level of glucose in the blood before and after doing physical activity. Two important factors stand out:
1. “If you are below 100 mg/dL, you may need to eat or drink something that contains 15-30 grams of carbohydrates, for example, 2 tablespoons of raisins, ½ cup of fruit juice, or regular soda (not diet). ) or glucose tablets so your blood sugar doesn’t drop too low during physical activity.”
2. If it’s above 240 mg/dL, “it may be too high (hyperglycemia) for you to be physically active safely.”
Types of diabetes
There are three types of diabetes. Type 1, which is characterized by being the least common, can occur at any age (children, youth and adults) and occurs when there is deficient production of insulin or there is it in minimal amounts. Type 2 is the most common and its symptoms are silent, so some people do not know they have the disease and the risk of complications in their health condition increases. And finally, gestational diabetes which, as its name indicates, occurs during pregnancy and increases complications during childbirth; In addition, it increases the risk that the mother and child will develop type 2 diabetes in the future.