Life Begins At.....
Issue link: http://ebook.aprs.com.au/i/47118
TYPE 2 DIABETES training (this is also known as weight training) improves muscular strength as well as the muscle cells sensitivity to insulin. Increasing one's strength leads to improved ability to complete daily tasks with less fatigue as well as fighting the age-related decline in muscle mass called sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is considered a major contributor to loss of functional capacity and independence in older adults. And to top it all off, the benefits of exercise to your general health are excellent – improved bone mineral density, improved cardiovascular capacity, reduced risks of heart and lung problems, cholesterol problems, improved sleep to name a few. Better than the side effects of so many medications these days! So what types of exercise should we be doing? There are three main types of exercise we can do: 1. Cardiovascular exercise We all know of cardiovascular exercise such as walking, swimming, cycling, and jogging or running. These use large muscle groups in a repeated and rhythmical fashion. Your muscle endurance will improve and your heart and lung fitness as well. These are usually easy to get access to and not hard to do. When doing cardiovascular exercise you want to work at a moderate pace. What's a moderate pace? Well it's different for everyone but it's a pace that makes you huffy and puffy and get a bit sweaty! You should still be able to talk, but maybe only in shorter answers rather than a long ongoing conversation. What if you're swimming? Well some people may be able to talk underwater but if you can't, you should feel like you are huffy and puffy but ok to continue. 2. Interval training Interval training is a form of cardiovascular exercise where we work hard for a short period and then go back to our usual moderate pace. It can be found in many activities like tennis, golf, basketball, volleyball and dancing, where we go slower for some parts and go faster for others. The idea here is that there you can work hard, but allow your heart rate to recover in the moderate pace. Why is this good? Well you get fitter faster! Getting used to working harder allows your body the chance to adapt, but only doing it for short bursts means that it's still manageable and not overwhelming. It also means that at the end of the session you will have spent more time working hard than if you tried to stay at that higher level and will have used more energy and of course, more blood glucose! 3. Resistance training (also known as weight training) We've already mentioned it above and it has enormous benefits for people with diabetes. Resistance training also uses up glucose that's stored in the muscles as well as increasing insulin sensitivity – so it has a big effect. One of the big THE RETIREE SUMMER 107 benefits is that if you can't walk or swim or jog because of injury, then you can still do resistance training! You can use it as part of your rehabilitation for your injury and still use it to exercise the rest of your body! It can be very effective for people with heart conditions, who can often get short of breath when trying to walk distances. Resistance training is done with set breaks, allowing people with heart conditions to recover. Importantly, you can choose how hard you work with resistance training by choosing the correct weight. For people with type 2 diabetes, the harder you work the better the impact on your blood glucose levels. As you can see there are so many options for exercise. Advice regarding exercise is often "go for a walk" and while walking is good it is often not specific enough, and for some, not a possibility. There are many ways to exercise and an individual program can be designed for you by your Accredited Exercise Physiologist who will understand and address any injuries or health issues you have.