T2D Exercise Benefits for Optimal Diabetes Health

Type 2 Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that leads to high blood sugar levels. In people with T2D, the insulin in their bloodstream fails to move glucose into the cells. This causes an excess build-up of glucose in the bloodstream. While exercise helps to control glucose levels, it is a crucial part of the day for those managing T2D.

How does exercise control blood sugar?

When you exercise, insulin resistance decreases which means your cells can use the glucose in your blood more effectively. In this way, exercise makes insulin more effective when you are insulin resistant, and reduces the glucose in your blood. Therefore, muscles can use the glucose necessary during exercise too, with or without insulin. As a result, your cells are able to take in glucose for energy when your muscles contract during exercise.

Exercise does not just help to control glucose levels, though, it offers many other benefits for optimal diabetes health. Here are a few of these T2D exercise benefits:

Maintain good (HDL) cholesterol

“Good” cholesterol, also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL) helps you avoid high cholesterol by removing other forms of cholesterol from your bloodstream. It also helps prevent the buildup of plaque that stiffens the artery walls and keeps blood from passing through to your tissues and organs. People with T2D are more likely to develop blocked arteries, and cause heart disease. This is why exercise is necessary to maintain a higher level of HDL cholesterol, and lower risk of heart disease.

More energy

People with type 2 diabetes will experience fatigue because their cells do not have the proper amount of glucose needed for energy. Exercise increases insulin sensitivity. As a result, your muscle cells will be more efficient at using up any available insulin to move glucose during activity.

Reduce blood pressure

Exercise reduces the stiffness of blood vessels to allow blood to flow, which lowers blood pressure and puts less strain on the heart. When the heart can pump more blood with less effort, it becomes stronger and healthier. A healthy heart means a reduced risk for heart attacks and stroke for people with type 2 diabetes because high blood pressure impacts blood flow to the heart.

While exercise does have an immediate impact on blood pressure during and after exercise, the more significant change will happen after a few months of regular exercise.

Weight loss & control

As type 2 diabetes can be tied to age and genetics, the majority of people with t2d are overweight or obese. Extra body weight and fat puts T2D patients at a higher risk for long-term cardiovascular complications, which leads to higher mortality rates in those living with type 2 diabetes. Exercise promotes weight loss to decrease these risks by burning calories. The increase in muscle mass from exercise will also continue to burn calories, thereby aiding in weight control even after exercise.

Improve mood

It is normal for people with type 2 diabetes to experience low mood or mood swings. As a result, high blood sugar affects their mental state. This can worsen when feelings of anger occur, because anger causes a stress response in the body, causing blood glucose levels and heart rate to increase. Exercise works to release and reduce feelings of stress and anger.

While the focus for people wanting to manage type 2 diabetes tends to be primarily on improving physical health, both physical and mental health are interconnected, meaning mental health issues can contribute to diabetes complications, and vice versa. By keeping blood sugar under control, emotional health becomes easier to manage as well. Plus, exercise (primarily aerobic exercise) releases endorphins, which are hormones that foster a sense of well-being and happiness.

If you are living with type 2 diabetes and looking to get your blood sugar under control, remember that your emotional health is just as important as your physical health. Exercise is the best way to benefit both of these at the same time.