Type 2 Diabetes - Ideas for Exercise for Diabetics

When it comes to finding the right kind of exercise program for a person who has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, it can be difficult. Some diabetics don't have any complications from their disease just yet, but others have to deal with many complications while trying to find an exercise program that works for them. Also, it's important to speak with your doctor before starting any kind of exercise regimen as it can affect your blood sugar levels.

So, how much should you exercise when you're diabetic? At the very least, you should be looking at exercising five days per week for at least 30 minutes each day. This will give you much more activity than the average American gets in a day. You can use all kinds of different activities to make up the 30 minutes including:

    walking,
    working in your yard,
    gardening,
    cleaning your house, and
    even swimming.

Any activity that causes your heart rate to go up and allows you to work up a light sweat is considered to be good exercise for diabetics. It should be noted teenagers and children can aim for at least an hour a day of exercise.

It might surprise you to know an extensive study carried out on people with pre-diabetes showed if they worked out for 115 minutes a week, it helped to prevent or even delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes. In addition, you will likely lose weight if being overweight is a problem for you.

So, what types of exercise should pre-diabetics and Type 2 diabetics be looking at? You need to look at three different kinds of activity, including:

    flexibility exercises,
    aerobics, and
    strength training.

Aerobic exercises are any exercise that gets your heart rate up for 30 minutes at a time, including walking, dancing, playing tennis or even riding a stationary bike. Keep in mind the idea is to get your heart rate up.

Strength training should be done at least 2 to 3 times a week to help you build up your muscles and keep your bones strong. This can include light weight training using rubber bands, plastic tubes or even lifting weights at home.

Finally, look into doing flexibility exercises like yoga or Pilates. This keeps your joints flexible and also helps to reduce the chance of becoming injured while doing other types of exercise.

Of course, you can add in other activity by walking whenever possible, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and parking as far away as you can from the grocery store when you go shopping. All of these little actions add up to give you more activity in your daily life.

Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. By making easy changes to your daily routine, its possible to protect your heart, kidneys, eyes and limbs from the damage often caused by diabetes, and eliminate some of the complications you may already experience.


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