Exercise and the Prevention of Diabetes
- Jay Homewood
- Oct 21, 2024
- 3 min read
Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that impacts the everyday life of people who develop it. If you are someone who is at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, there are ways to prevent it. Firstly, knowing you are someone who is at risk will help you identify changes you need to make early on. If you are over 40, or Type 2 diabetes runs in your family, if you are overweight or have high blood pressure, you are more at risk of developing diabetes. People of South Asian, African-Caribbean or Black Asian descent are also two to four times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.
According to Diabetes UK, three in five cases of Type 2 diabetes in the UK can be delayed and even prevented through an improved diet and increased levels of exercise. If you fall into one of these high-risk categories, there are things you can do to reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Before Type 2 diabetes has fully developed, blood sugar levels in the body will be high but not high enough to be formally diagnosed as diabetes. This is called prediabetes. Prediabetes is an indicator that you at a much higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, but the risk can be reduced if you amend your lifestyle now. There are no symptoms of prediabetes, but if you are concerned that you are high risk, you can see your doctor and they will assess your blood sugar levels.
How can exercise prevent diabetes?
Exercise increases insulin sensitivity in the body. This means that when you exercise, your body suppresses the production of insulin as less insulin is required to regulate the blood sugar levels in your body. High-intensity exercise, aerobics, strength training and interval training such as HIIT have all proven to reduce insulin resistance in the body and lower blood glucose levels. Exercise supports the uptake of glucose into the muscles and organs from the bloodstream, causing an immediate lowering of blood sugar levels.
Strength training exercises can have a significant improvement in blood sugar level management. The more muscle you have, the more insulin receptors you have and therefore there is more capacity for glucose to be absorbed into the muscles after eating.
Exercise can also help with weight loss, and weight loss can reduce your risk of developing diabetes. Excess visceral fat, which is a term used for fat that builds up internally around your organs, is common in people with prediabetes and it can encourage insulin resistance, heightening the risk of developing diabetes. People who are overweight are more at risk of developing diabetes, especially if the weight is carried in their middle, as this is an indicator of excess visceral fat. Some of the best forms of exercise to reduce visceral fat include resistance training and aerobic exercises. Workouts aimed at specific areas or muscle groups, such as abdominal workouts, will not target visceral fat in the same way.
A study carried out in 2009[1] showed that weight loss was the ‘dominant determinant of the reduced risk of diabetes,’ due to increased physical activity and reduced fat levels. The study found that a 5kg weight loss could reduce the risk of diabetes by 55%. Subjects who lost more weight reduced their risk of developing diabetes by over 90%.
A sedentary lifestyle is associated with a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. This is different from not getting any exercise but refers to lifestyles that involve sitting down for extended periods, such as people with an office job or who drive a vehicle for long periods. Breaking up long periods of sitting down with light exercise can reduce the risk of developing diabetes, and this should be done in conjunction with regular exercise.
Summary
Exercise helps to prevent diabetes through weight loss, reduced visceral fat levels, better insulin sensitivity and better regulation of blood sugar levels in the body. If you have been diagnosed with prediabetes, it is not too late to reverse the damage you have done and developing Type 2 diabetes is not inevitable in this situation.
For people who have already been diagnosed with diabetes, your diabetes can go into remission with a combination of an improved diet and healthy lifestyle changes including increased exercise levels.
For those who haven’t been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes but are concerned that they may be at risk of developing it in the future, the best way to mitigate the risk is through regular exercise combined with a healthy diet.
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