American Diabetes Association’s New Recommendations on Physical Activity

The American Diabetes Association announces new updated, comprehensive guidelines for regular, structured physical exercise for everyone with diabetes and recommends less overall sedentary time every day.

Guidelines Suggest Short Periods of Movement Every 30 Minutes

The most notable recommendation calls for three or more minutes of light activity, such as walking, leg extensions or overhead arm stretches, every 30 minutes during prolonged sedentary activities for improved blood sugar management, particularly for people with type 2 diabetes. This is a shift from the Association’s previous recommendation of physical movement every 90 minutes of sedentary time.

All types of diabetes are addressed in “Physical Activity/Exercise and Diabetes: A Position Statement of the American Diabetes Association,” to be published in the November 2016 issue of Diabetes Care.

Sedentary behavior—awake time that involves prolonged sitting, such as sitting at a desk on the computer, sitting in a meeting or watching TV—has a negative effect on preventing or managing health problems, including diabetes.

Recommendations on Physical Activity and Exercise for People with Diabetes

Studies have shown improved blood sugar management when prolonged sitting is interrupted every 30 minutes—with three minutes or more of standing or light-intensity activities, such as:

leg lifts or extensions
overhead arm stretches
desk chair swivels
torso twists
side lunges
walking in place

Physical movement improves blood sugar management in people who have sedentary jobs and in people who are overweight, obese and who have difficulty maintaining blood sugars in a healthy range.

“These updated guidelines are intended to ensure everyone continues to physically move around throughout the day—at least every 30 minutes—to improve blood glucose management,” said lead author Sheri R. Colberg-Ochs, PhD, FACSM, consultant/director of physical fitness for the American Diabetes Association.

“This movement should be in addition to regular exercise, as it is highly recommended for people with diabetes to be active. Since incorporating more daily physical activity can mean different things to different people with diabetes, these guidelines offer excellent suggestions on what to do, why to do it and how to do it safely.”

This is the first time the Association has issued independent, comprehensive guidelines on physical activity and exercise for all people with diabetes, including type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes, and prediabetes. Additionally, there is emphasis on various categories of physical activity—aerobic exercise, resistance training, flexibility and balance training, and general lifestyle activity—and the benefits of each for people with diabetes. The new report is based upon an extensive review of more than 180 papers of the latest diabetes research, and includes the expertise of leaders in the field of diabetes and exercise physiology from top research institutions in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Additionally, activity guidelines are suggested for women with gestational diabetes and for people with prediabetes. Women who are at-risk or diagnosed with gestational diabetes are encouraged to incorporate aerobic and resistance exercise into their lives most days of the week to improve the effects of insulin and help maintain consistent blood sugar levels. People with prediabetes—a condition that is detected when blood sugar levels are above the normal range, yet not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis—are urged to combine physical activity and healthy lifestyle changes to delay or prevent a type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

The complete statement HERE

SOURCE American Diabetes Association