Twenty years ago, few doctors would have recommended that their diabetic patients take part in anything other than very mild exercise. They simply did not understand the metabolic changes that occur in prolonged, strenuous exercise well enough to let their patients take the risk.
Not that doctors are now commonly sending diabetics out to run marathons. But regular physical activity has become an accepted part of the management of diabetics, as it has been shown to lower blood sugar and reduce the need for insulin.
Researchers believe that the positive effects of exercise may have something to do with an increase in insulin binding at the cellular level. Most hormones like insulin work by binding to cells at a specific site on the cell membrane.
In a study conducted at Yale University, Vijay R. Soman, M.D., showed that exercise consisting of one hour of stationary cycling, four times a week, had positive effects on insulin sensitivity in healthy volunteers. Although the men’s body weight remained the same, their sugar uptake by insulin was 30 percent higher after exercising. Insulin binding to monocytes (white blood cells) also increased by 35 percent.
Interestingly, insulin sensitivity improved in proportion to the physical fitness of the people tested.
“The data in this study suggest that physical training can be valuable in the treatment of obesity and maturity-onset diabetes because it augments tissue sensitivity to insulin whether or not it causes weight loss,” the researchers concluded (New England Journal of Medicine, November 29, 1979).
Exercise is a valuable consideration in the treatment of diabetes, as is nutrition, but please, do not make changes in your daily routine without first gaining approval from a qualified physician.