A new study shows that better blood sugar control for people with type-2 diabetes may be as easy as getting up from their seats or off their couches or even taking a leisurely walk.

 
The new study, published in the November issue of the journal Diabetologia, points out that sitting around a little less could be of enormous benefit, especially since most diabetics don’t follow their doctors’ “moderate to vigorous” exercise recommendations.

 
“For years, I would suggest an exercise regimen to my patients that I knew was doomed to failure,” concurs Dr. Robert Courgi, an endocrinologist at Northwell Health’s Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y. “However, by tweaking the message a bit, the odds of success increase significantly. Ultimately, any activity helps lower glucose [blood sugar]. The message of ‘sitting less’ will have a higher success rate than exercise regimens of the past.”

 
Currently, guidelines for physical activity advise a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise weekly to help prevent type 2 diabetes, though according to the study, nine out of 10 people fail to follow through with it.

 
The new study, led by Bernard Duvivier of the department of human biology and movement science at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, attempted to determine whether a program that reduced inactivity — by encouraging patients to simply stand and do light-intensity walking — could be an effective alternative to the standard but unrealistic exercise regimen.

 
The study included a test sample of 19 adults with type-2 diabetes and an average age of 63 who did three programs, each lasting four days, and each involving varying degrees of activity.

 
Findings showed that there were significant improvements in blood sugar control when the patients did the “sit less” program, and Courgi said that the new trial “has helped me rethink the way I treat diabetes with exercise.”

 
Source: UPI