What Exercises Lower Blood Sugar? – 6 Exercises for Diabetics

Balancing blood sugar levels by a diabetic patient is not easy as it looks. There are a lot of factors to observe while keeping blood sugar under control. You can manage your blood sugar levels through a balanced diet and proper exercise. Exercise is equally important as a balanced food. So, What Exercises Lower Blood Sugar?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it has been reported that around 13% of U.S. adults live with diabetes, and almost 34.5% have prediabetes. This means almost 50% of all U.S. adults have prediabetes or diabetes. Proper exercise not only keeps your body fit, but also helps in balancing the blood sugar levels of your body.

Importance Guidelines

The study published by the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology in 2017 states that glucose levels strike their peak within 90 minutes of a meal. An individual who is suffering from type 2 diabetes must keep their sugar levels at 160 mg/dl within two hours of a meal. As proper exercise helps in reducing blood glucose concentrations so it’s an excellent idea to start exercising about 30 minutes after the beginning of a meal.

When an individual instigates exercise, their body liberates stress hormones, which can momentarily raise their blood sugar. If you are a diabetic patient and your body does not manage blood sugar levels properly, then chances are it will increase too much for the duration of the first half-hour of exercise before it begins to lower.

Keep in your mind that if you start exercising with a high blood sugar level then it might be dangerous for you. So the best approach is to start your exercise by measuring your blood sugar so that you cannot face any trouble later on.

Exercise for People with Diabetes

Here in this section, you will get to know about some of the best fitness ideas that can help you fight fat, improve balance, reduce stress, and increase muscle mass. It also helps in reducing your need for Injectable insulin. Some of the great exercises for people with diabetes are as follows:

1) Walk

Brisk walking is a mild activity, but it provides major benefits especially to people with diabetes. If you do not have a proper exercise routine in place then start with walking. All you need is a good and comfortable pair of shoes and an open place to go. It is probably one of the most approved activities for people with type 2 diabetes.

A brisk morning walk is commonly recommended by nutritionists, doctors, dietitians, fitness coaches, and personal trainers alike, to shove clear of detrimental sedentary habits, bolster immunity, stimulate metabolism, burn surplus body fat, and shed excess calories.

Morning walks provide a lot of health benefits, such as:

• It accelerates weight loss
• Helps in preventing chronic diseases
• Improves energy levels of the body
• Helps in promoting deep sleep
• Uplifts memory and mood
• Improves heart wellness
• Fortifies bones, joints, and muscles

Moreover, regularly going for a walk in the local park, close by private roads or even an extensive open terrace in your apartment building at dawn dispenses with the need to go to the gym, which numerous individuals don’t prefer even today.

2) Strength Training

Strength training is also known as resistance or weight training. It is a physical activity intended to perk up muscular strength by exercising a particular muscle against peripheral resistance; including weight machines, free-loads, or your body mass, as per the American Heart Association.

This exercise provides a lot of health benefits. A few of them are listed below:

• It helps in making you stronger and fitter
• It helps in keeping the weight off for good
• The exercise helps in protecting muscle mass and bone health
• It helps people in developing better body mechanics
• Strength training exercise helps in balancing the blood sugar levels of the body
• It provides numerous cardiovascular health benefits to people of all age groups

Strength training is not just about bodybuilders stimulating weights in a gym. Regular strength training also forestalls the regular loss of incline muscle mass that comes with aging. This amazing exercise is helpful for your overall fitness. It provides benefits to people of all age groups, particularly those with health problems such as arthritis, heart condition, or obesity.

3) Tai Shi

Tai chi is one of the best exercises for balancing blood sugar levels. This exercise involves a sequence of movements carried out in a slow, focused style and accompanied by deep breathing. Tai chi is also commonly known as tai chi chuan. It is a noncompetitive, self-paced arrangement of stretching and gentle physical exercise.

Each stance streams into the next without break, ensuring that your body is in steady movement. This exercise is a lot different from yoga. It is another type of meditative faction. Yoga, on the other hand, includes a variety of breathing techniques and physical postures, along with meditation. Tai Shi is one of the best exercises for diabetic patients.

This exercise provides a lot of health benefits. A few of them are listed below:

• It helps in reducing stress, depression, and anxiety
• It improves mood
• Helps in improving aerobic capacity
• It helps in increasing the body’s energy levels and stamina
• Improves flexibility, agility, and balance
• Helps in improving muscle definition and strength
• This amazing exercise improves the quality of sleep
• Helps in improving the immune system
• The exercise helps in improving overall well-being
• It helps in improving symptoms of congestive heart failure

Tai chi has various styles. Each style may subtly underscore different tai chi standards and strategies. There are varieties inside each style. A few styles may focus on health maintenance, while others center on the combative techniques part of tai chi.

4) Swimming

Swimming is an incredible exercise since you need to move your entire body against the resistance of the water. Swimming is extraordinary for individuals living with diabetes.

It can decrease your danger of cardiovascular sickness and help oversee glucose levels in Type 2 and gestational diabetes. It expands insulin affectability and can add to weight reduction or maintaining a sound weight.

This exercise provides a lot of health benefits. A few of them are listed below:

• Swimming helps in keeping your heart rate up
• Helps in managing stress level of the body
• It helps in maintaining a bodyweight
• Helps in building strength
• Beneficial for keeping the heart healthy
• Helps in building endurance, cardiovascular fitness, and muscle strength

Getting started in swimming is simple and trouble-free. It can be done by people of all age groups. All you need to do is to buy a good pair of swimmers and some goggles before getting started.

5) Yoga

An increasing number of individuals with diabetes mellitus are turning to yoga with an end goal to monitor their condition and improve their satisfaction. Yoga is a progression of mental, physical, and profound disciplines that started in ancient India over 5,000 years ago.

The act of yoga serves to coordinate the breath, body, and mind to foster breath awareness and give a feeling of inward harmony. Notably, the normal act of yoga can help decrease levels of stress, lower blood pressure, improve overall wellbeing, and enhance mobility.

There are a lot of health benefits of doing yoga. A few of them are listed below:

• Provides improved feelings of well-being
• Helps in providing better sleep
• Provides relief from chronic illnesses
• Helps in reducing depression and anxiety
• It helps in improving body posture, strength, and flexibility
• It improves digestion, immunity, and circulation
• Improves the efficiency of respiratory, endocrine organs, and neurological
• Helps in enhancing energy levels and concentration

Yoga involves different body stances and developments (known as asanas), breathing methods, and meditation, which are completely intended to advance mental composure and physical comfort. There are a few types of yoga, yet in the west, the most widely taught form is Hatha Yoga.

6) Cycling

Cycling is a great way of balancing the blood sugar levels of the body. It helps in making your heart rate up. It also helps in burning blood sugar and losing weight without hurting your joints or knees.

Some of the prominent benefits of cycling are as follows:

• It helps in increasing cardiovascular fitness
• Improves joint mobility
• Helps in increasing muscle flexibility and strength
• It decreases stress levels
• Helps in improving coordination and posture
• It provides prevention or management of disease

The acceptance and maintenance of physical activity are significant for balancing the blood glucose level of the body. It also helps in improving the overall health of people with diabetes and prediabetes.

In Conclusion

So now you have the answers to the question, What Exercises Lower Blood Sugar? One can easily manage their blood sugar level through proper diet and exercise. Exercise helps in improving blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes. It reduces cardiovascular risk factors and contributes to weight loss which results in improving the person’s overall well-being. Regular exercise can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes development.