Discuss the benefits of exercise for a person with diabetes

Answer 1

Exercise sensitizes the body to insulin, and can alleviate symptoms of insulin resistance or lead to a reduction in the doses of glucose-lowering drugs. The ability of exercise to sensitize the body to insulin may alleviate symptoms in those individuals with type 2 diabetes in whom insulin resistance is the primary pathology. The effects of regular exercise in individuals with type 2 diabetes are particularly profound if they are accompanied by weight loss. Regular physical activity in individuals with type 2 diabetes may decrease fasting blood glucose and reduce the amount of hemoglobin A1c in the blood toward normal concentrations. Just one strenuous bout of exercise can have persistent effects that last long after its completion. A single bout of exercise can improve glucose for an extended period after exercise.
A program of regular exercise leads to a marked improvement in glucose disposal in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is associated with a defect in the ability to store glucose as glycogen. A benefit of regular exercise is that it specifically improves the effectiveness of insulin in stimulating muscle glycogen synthesis from glucose. The improvement in insulin sensitivity with regular exercise can be traced back to genes that express key proteins for muscle glucose metabolism. Also, regular exercise increases the expression of GLUT4 in the trained muscle. Since GLUT4 is the protein required for insulin to stimulate the uptake of glucose by skeletal muscle, this helps control glucose levels.