Type 2 Diabetes - Why Not Exercise In The Pool To Help Your Heart and Blood Sugar Level?
Something people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes need to understand about their disease, is that high blood sugar that results from insulin resistance can lead to a number of other diseases, including: heart disease and stroke, and peripheral vascular disease (PVD). This means blood does not flow properly to many parts of your body. Chronic heart failure (CHF) takes place when your heart is unable to pump enough blood fast enough to supply your body with its need for oxygen and nutrients. When that happens, fluid can back up in your lungs and cause a medical emergency. Oxygen uptake and muscle function can be compromised in both chronic heart failure and Type 2 diabetes, and when anyone has both conditions, oxygen uptake and muscle function are compromised more than they are when only one condition is present. Exercise is important in both heart disease and diabetes, but the person's exercise ability can be limited. Investigators at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden looked at water exercise as a non-stressful way to move for people who have been diagnosed with both chronic heart failure and Type 2 diabetes. This particular study was published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine in April 2012. It included 20 volunteers with diagnoses of both Type 2 diabetes and chronic heart failure. The volunteers who exercised: 45 minutes a day three times per week in a swimming pool showed improvement in their muscle function and oxygen uptake, as well as their ability to tolerate walking. their HbA1c level also showed a significant decrease. From these results it was concluded aquatic exercise could help to improve the exercise ability and muscle function in anyone with both chronic heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. According to a different report published in 2011 in the Frontiers of Physiology, an improvement in the HbA1c level was likely due to improvement in the muscles' ability to take up sugar and store it as the carbohydrate glycogen. Glycogen is used by your muscles as an energy source, and the muscles must take up new sugar and store it as glycogen after exercise. When the muscles are full of glycogen and high levels of sugar still circulate in the blood, sugar can be converted to fat. Converting sugar to carbohydrate is reduced in people who are insulin resistant, such as diabetics, but insulin sensitivity can be restored with exercise. From the summer of 2012, many community centers and schools offer water aerobics. A search of the internet also reveals simple physical activities that can be performed in a pool. walking across the shallow end while pushing against the water with your arms is one simple activity where both arms and legs can be involved. try doing jumping jacks in the shallow end, or stand on one foot while kicking your opposite leg out to the side and in, then forward and backward. grab the side of the pool and bend your knees against the pool wall, then kick off with your legs. Practice for a half hour a day and see how much better you feel by the end of summer. The blood sugar lowering effects can last from 24 to 72 hours after exercising; muscles continue soaking up glucose, turning it into stored glycogen.