Tag: Walking

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Excercise

Diabetes Prevention & Management: Does Walk Timing Really Matter?

Exercising and walking are essential for managing diabetes and improving the overall health of diabetes patients. Brisk walking can help regulate blood sugar levels and maintain healthy body weight. It can also provide many other health benefits, such as a healthier heart, improved insulin sensitivity, increased metabolism, reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels and improved memory and cognitive abilities. 

However, does walk time also matter when we talk about walking? Let’s find out.

What Is an Ideal Walk Time for People With Diabetes?

According to the American Diabetes Association, you must walk for 30 minutes at least five days a week to manage diabetes better. There are also many studies that have been conducted to observe the relationship between walking time and diabetes. Some of the key findings were:

  • According to a 2012 study, every additional 2600 steps, which is close to 20 minutes of walking, was associated with a 0.2% reduction in A1C levels. 
  • Another study suggested that a 20-minute walk can have a positive impact on the psychological well-being of diabetes patients
  • In a study conducted in 2012 and another in 2009, it was observed that walking after meals for about 20 minutes can impact postprandial (after meal) glucose excursion and result in significant glycemic benefits. It occurs in both people with diabetes and without diabetes. Therefore, it can also help prevent diabetes. 
  • Researchers also observed that even 2 to 5 minutes of light walking after a meal helped smooth postprandial glucose levels. 
  • Walking is not only associated with diabetes management but also with diabetes prevention. A 2007 study found that people who walked every day for at least 20 minutes had a 30% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Based on the results of these studies, we can easily conclude that walking time is crucial in diabetes management. The ideal walking time for diabetes patients is 20-30 minutes after eating meals. However, if you can’t walk for 20-30 minutes, even 2 to 5 minutes of light walking after eating can help manage diabetes better.  

How To Make Walking A Part of Your Daily Routine?

  • Take it slow. Start with light walking for 1-2 minutes and then gradually increase your pace and timing. 
  • Add it to your calendar and make it a part of your schedule. It will prevent you from assigning that time to any other activity. 
  • Take the help of your friends and family. Walking with them will make you feel more accountable and prevent you from missing out on a session. 
  • Listen to audiobooks or music while walking. It will help you relax and make walking a fun and joyous activity.
  • If you cannot plan walking every day, you can sneak it in through various other ways. For example, you may use stairs instead of the elevator or take walking breaks with your colleagues during office hours to walk some extra steps.   

Tips For Walking Safely

  • Wear comfortable walking shoes and socks. They will help prevent blisters and other foot problems. 
  • Carry water and snacks. Staying hydrated while walking is crucial for diabetes patients. 
  • Remain aware of your body condition. If you feel any symptoms of hypoglycemia, such as drowsiness, confusion, dizziness, tremors, fast heartbeat, etc., eat a fast-acting carbohydrate and contact your doctor. 

The Final Takeaway

Walking has numerous benefits for diabetes patients. The duration and the time you walk also hold great significance for people with diabetes. A 20-30 minute walk after taking meals is usually considered ideal. You can start incorporating walking into your daily routine by scheduling a 1-2 minute walk every day after meals and then gradually increase the pace. 

References

 

Categories
Excercise

Simple Activities And Exercises To Break Your Sitting Habit

Living a sedentary lifestyle can prove to be quite dangerous to your overall health. The lesser the amount of time you spend sitting or lying down, the better are your chances of living a healthy life.

If you stand or move during the course of the day, you have a significantly lower risk of early death than if you sit for extended durations at a desk. Moreover, if you live a sedentary lifestyle, you have higher risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease and experiencing anxiety and depression.

How Does An Active Lifestyle Help?

Human beings are built to stand upright. Your heart and the entire cardiovascular system work more efficiently this way. Your bowel also functions much more efficiently when you are standing upright. It is quite common for individuals who are bedridden in hospitals to experience problems with the functioning of their bowels.

Conversely, when you are physically active, your overall energy and endurance levels improve, with the strengthening of your bones.

Now, let’s look at simple activities and exercises to break the habit of sitting for extended periods.

Incorporate More Activity Into Your Day

Some effective ways to incorporate activity into your daily life include:

  • Walking, cycling, and leaving the car at home
  • For long trips, cycle or walk part of the way
  • Use the staircase instead of the escalator or elevator, or at least walk up the escalator
  • Get off the bus you have boarded one stop early and walk the remainder of the way
  • Calculate how much time it takes you to walk one kilometre. You may surprisingly find out how you can reach your destination in a quicker way by walking in comparison with waiting for public transport

Be Active As Well As Safe

If you are extremely new to physical activity, or if you have developed an underlying health condition, talk to your doctor before you commence with any new activity. Healthcare professionals can help you in deciding the best and most optimum activities.

If you plan to get active outdoors, remember to protect your skin from the harmful UV rays of the sun by applying sunscreen and wearing sun-protective clothing, including a cap or hat.

Be Active At The Workplace

You can move around at your workplace in more ways than you can think:

  • Ditch the elevator and take the stairs
  • Walk over and speak to your colleagues instead of merely emailing them
  • Take your lunch break away from your desk and opt for a short walk outside, if possible
  • You may even organise walking meetings


Be Active Indoors

Do not let harsh weather stop you from being physically active. You may opt for bodyweight exercises such as squats, lunges, and sit-ups.

You may also try indoor activities such as dancing, yoga, Pilates, swimming, squash, martial arts, and indoor rock climbing.

Reduce Your Sedentary Lifestyle Practices

Mentioned below are some simple ways to get moving while you are at home, spending long hours sitting:

  • When you are tidying things up, put items away in smaller trips instead of taking all of them together
  • Set the time on your TV to turn off an hour earlier than what is usual to help you in remembering that it is time to get up and move
  • When you are on the phone on a lengthy conversation, try walking around
  • Stand up and spend some time ironing rather than sitting and watching TV shows
  • Instead of sitting and reading, you may opt to listen to recorded books while you work, clean, or walk in the garden
  • When you are using public transport, stand rather than sit

If you work in an office:

  • You should opt for standing workstations or stand up while you read emails and reports
  • Move your rubbish bin far away from your desk so that you need to stand up and walk to discard anything away.
  • Use the speakerphone when it comes to conference calls and walk around the room in the midst of calls

To Sum It All Up

According to some researchers, sitting is the new smoking. Sitting for prolonged periods is a characteristic behaviour when it comes to living a sedentary lifestyle, which must be avoided as much as you can. There are umpteen ways and tricks to spend your time standing, walking, or simply being active rather than merely sitting, be it at your desk in the office or while watching your favourite shows on the television.

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Categories
Excercise

How Walking Helps With Diabetes Management

If you are seeking ways to include more exercise and physical activity into your everyday routine, walking is a great way to start.

Here, we will demonstrate the benefits of walking for those with diabetes as well as explain how to better manage your diabetes while you are on the move.

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Benefits Of Walking For Those With Diabetes

When you have a chronic disease such as diabetes, moving more can make a significant difference to how you feel and your overall diabetes management plan. Therefore, regardless of the type of diabetes that you may have (Type 1, Type 2, etc.), walking is a great way to get physically active as well as inculcate movement into your everyday routine. 

This is because:

  • You can choose a location and time of your choice for walking, besides being absolutely free.
  • Brisk walking can help in building stamina, burning excess calories, and keeping your heart healthy.
  • Walking can help your body to use insulin in a far more efficient manner.
  • It is easy on the joints of your body.
  • It is a great way to improve mental health, by reducing stress levels and the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
  • It can help in improving the quality of your sleep.

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Other highlights when it comes to walking include:

  • Walking improves blood glucose control in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
  • Supervised walking training is preferable, whenever possible.
  • The surface of walking along with its slope will have a direct effect on the cost of locomotion and must be considered.
  • Interval walking may be prescribed in younger and physically fit individuals.
  • Short bouts of brisk walking to break prolonged sedentary times have more favourable effects.

Tips To Get Started With Daily Walking With Diabetes

Whether you are new to walking or seeking ways to boost your current physical-activity levels, setting realistic goals for yourself is the ideal way to begin.

You may also find it extremely useful to set aside a specific time during the day or week to go walking – morning, evening, or lunch break. This can help you in keeping on track because you do not need to think about fitting walking into each day; it can become an integral part of your daily routine.

If you are worried about maintaining motivational levels, you may opt for a music playlist, radio show, or a popular podcast series to listen to while walking. These activities can help you in staying engaged and making the time tick faster. Your walks may additionally be your ideal time to check in with your loved ones over the phone or catch up with friends and relatives.

Lastly, if you wish to start off with something easier, you may give a shot to walking in your very own home. Walking is an exercise that can be performed while you are cooking in the kitchen or watching a movie or favourite programme on your television.

Walking and Diabetes Management

Walking is by far the most ancestral form of physical activity that can be easily incorporated in your daily life. It could represent, in several patients, a first and simple step towards executing lifestyle changes. 

According to a study in postmenopausal women at a high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, both standing as well as walking acutely reduce postprandial glucose levels, insulin levels, and non-esterified fatty acid response in comparison with prolonged sitting, successfully indicating that standing up and walking may be enough to improve the metabolic profile in those individuals who live a sedentary lifestyle. 

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On a Final Note:

Regular exercise is a cornerstone when it comes to successful management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. One of the best ways to exercise is brisk walking, which helps in improving glucose control and cardiovascular risk factors, contributing to weight loss, and improving general wellbeing, and playing a significant role when it comes to preventing chronic complications of diabetes. That said, compliance to certain exercise recommendations is quite inadequate in those with diabetes. Walking is considered to be the most ancestral form of physical activity in human beings, easily applicable when it comes to daily life. In numerous patients, it is the first simple step towards making key lifestyle changes. 

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