Adults with diabetes should maintain regular exercise every week. Specifically, moderate-intensity aerobic exercises should be done at least 150 minutes/week (such as brisk walking, slow cycling) or 75 minutes/week if exercising at high intensity (such as jogging, fast swimming). These activities help muscles absorb glucose better, thereby controlling blood sugar more effectively.
In addition, you should lift weights 2-3 times a week to increase muscle mass. You can use hand weights, resistance bands or exercise with body weight such as push-ups, planks, squats. Each exercise should be repeated 8-12 times and perform 2-3 sets.
In addition, exercises that increase flexibility and balance such as yoga or Tai Chi, performed 2-3 times/week, also help improve flexibility, strength and balance.
Maintaining exercise combined with reasonable weight loss and lifestyle changes can help people at high risk reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 58%. In particular, combining aerobics and weightlifting is more effective than just one type, helping to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, limit complications, and improve HbA1c index. Both forms of exercise support increasing insulin sensitivity, controlling blood sugar, reducing obesity and insulin resistance.
