While cutting back on your intake of sugar and other carbs in your diet is one way of controlling and managing your Type 2 diabetes, adding exercise to your daily routine can make a big difference as well.
When you exercise, insulin sensitivity is increased so your muscles are primed to use more insulin, which makes those muscle cells more open and receptive to the glucose in your bloodstream.
This improved insulin sensitivity continues even after you’ve finished exercising. Some studies show that exercise can lower your blood glucose levels up to 24 hours or more after your workout.
Since the exercise has done its job of increasing your body’s sensitivity to insulin, it will continue to work its magic long after you’ve finished your exercise session and moved on with the rest of your day.
Over time, if you keep at it, daily exercise can result in lower A1C levels. But like anything else in life, mileage can vary. Tracking how well you blood glucose numbers respond to various exercises and the foods you eat should be part of the strategy.
Check your blood glucose levels before and after exercise to see what effect it is having. This is important not only to learn how different exercises and their durations are affecting you, but, more importantly, to prevent any episodes of hypoglycemia. Safety should always be the first priority.
But adopting an exercise routine into your daily schedule can be very difficult for those of us whose schedules are already packed with family and job obligations. How do we find the time to get a workout in during the midst of a hurricane of commitments and appointments?
While finding time to add anything new to your daily schedule is always going to be a challenge, whether its signing up for an Excel class at the local adult school or agreeing to coach your daughter’s soccer team a few days a week, it is possible to squeeze in a short workout session somewhere during the day.
The workout doesn’t have to be an hour or two at the local gym. Start with something small, like a walk around the block after dinner. Or instead of sitting on the couch while watching TV, get up from time to time and move your arms and legs around. Get the blood moving and circulating through your body.
You may think that such small steps and movements will have negligible effects on your blood glucose levels, but you have just transformed yourself from a body at rest to a body in motion. This is a significant change as momentum is your greatest ally in making any change.
You’ve made that transition, however slight, from being a stationary couch potato lying around binge watching Game of Thrones to a body that is up off the couch and in movement. Your muscles are moving and your blood circulation has been activated.
You aren’t running a marathon here, but you have made a big step towards getting more physically active. This slight change, this nudge from inactivity to minimal movement, is something you can be proud of. You’ve shifted the direction of your life, whether you realize it or not.
The transition from a sedentary lifestyle to a more active one should be a gradual one. We are not only dealing with our bodies, but with our minds.
If we decide to get more physically active tonight and begin immediately by joining a gym, jumping on a treadmill and try running for an hour or two, we are going to get discouraged very quickly. The odds are that we will give up and feel like a failure, believing that we simply don’t have the self-discipline to exercise.
But what if we built up a series of small successes first by staring out with such simple exercises that it would be nearly impossible to fail. Taking that walk around the block after dinner every other night. Or instead of parking in a parking space as close to your office as possible, try parking at the space at the far end of the lot.
Again, you may think that such small actions are not significant enough to make any difference at all in your blood glucose levels, but you are working on something that goes beyond just your physical body. You are rebuilding your psyche, your confidence, and the very thing that will move you forward, momentum.
And this is really the most important part of starting out small. Build momentum first and make that the primary engine that will drive you forward towards improved health. And keep it interesting. Log your progress in a notebook.
Spot trends in what times and exercises seem to result in better blood glucose levels. Carry around that notebook like a scientist who is studying and researching the most important test subject of all; yourself. Soon you will become an expert on what foods and exercises work the best for you.
