People with type 2 diabetes now have something else going for them. Both, resistance exercise, as well as aerobics has been found to work positively in improving their blood sugar control.
While each is excellent in its own right it has been discovered that they are especially effective when they're combined.
In a 25 week study carried out by associate professor of medicine and cardiac sciences at University of Calgary, Canada, Ronald Sigal, and team, they observed 251 type two diabetics from 39 to 70 who led sedentary lives in 8 community based centers all over Canada.
They were first obliged to pass a stress test or be cleared for exercise training by a cardiologist, and to prove they could stick to a 4 week exercise program before they were enrolled in the trial.
The subjects were then randomly assigned to any one of four groups. Group one consisted of: those who underwent aerobics training on treadmills and exercise bikes for 45 minutes thrice a week. Group two consisted of those who underwent 45 minutes of resistance training with weights, thrice a week. The third group was composed of those who performed either aerobics or resistance exercises on alternate days. And, finally, the fourth group was made up of those who did no exercise at all but were on a waiting list, which served as a control.
At 6 months the researchers observed the changes in the participants' hemoglobin A1c value besides changes in body composition, blood pressure and plasma lipid levels.
The A1c value is a percentage number that indicates concentrations of blood sugar in the last two or three months. To decrease in A1c value of 1% would mean a fifteen to 20% decrease in the chances of experiencing a stroke or heart attack, as well as a 25 to 40% decrease in one's chances of contracting eye ailments or kidney ailments connected to diabetes.
It was found in the study that the blood sugar control A1c value in the first two groups was reduced by about 0.5%. The third group, the one that did both kinds of exercise, improved by almost double that amount, 0.97%. There was no change in A1c value at all for those who did not exercise.
Changes in blood pressure and lipid levels did not differ markedly among the groups.
Lead author of the study, Sigal, said, “We know that aerobic exercise improves glycemic control, but we didn't really know too much about what kind of exercise is the most beneficial and how much of it. In particular there wasn't much known about resistance exercises when we started planning this study. At the time, some thought that resistance exercise is not useful or even dangerous for some people with diabetes."
"And even for people who had fairly good blood sugar control at the beginning of our study, those who did both aerobic and resistance exercise had further improvements in glucose control."
He also observed that the participants were "probably more adherent to exercise and healthier on average than the general population with type 2 diabetes."
The team also pointed out that the study excluded those receiving insulin or who had advanced diabetes complications and the findings therefore may not be applied to unsupervised exercise programs.
According to Dr. Sigal, "The bottom line is that doing both aerobic and resistance exercise is the way to maximize the effects of exercise on blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes."
The findings of the report "Effects of Aerobic Training, Resistance Training, or Both on Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes," have been published in Thursday's edition of Annals of Internal Medicine, along with the editorial "Exercise Training for Diabetes: The "Strength" of the Evidence,".
Past president of the American Diabetes Association, Larry Deeb, described the findings as “spectacular news” for people with diabetes.
