You are no doubt aware that exercise can help prevent the serious complications that often come with diabetes and heart disease. Research has repeatedly shown that regular physical activity helps reduce the likelihood of having a heart attack or a stroke, aids in weight loss, and improves mood.

But do you know that exercise can also help you reduce your blood glucose levels?

That's right. In people with type 2 diabetes, exercise may improve insulin sensitivity and assist in lowering elevated blood glucose levels into the normal range.

Here's why. When you exercise, your body uses more oxygen -- as much as 20 times more -- and even more in the working muscles, than when you are at rest. So the muscles use more glucose to meet their increased energy needs.

Blood pressure-lowering drugs reduce both systolic and diastolic pressure, and the simplest explanation for the finding that systolic pressure was harder to control is that it was higher to begin with in this particular population. Most of the subjects in this survey were older than 60, and many of them presumably had isolated systolic hypertension, characterized by a high systolic and a normal diastolic pressure.

At the same time, exercise improves the action of insulin in the peripheral muscles, making it more efficient, so you get more out of the insulin your body is producing.

In older people with diabetes, the decrease in insulin sensitivity that comes with aging is also partly due to a lack of physical activity. So regular exercise benefits you now, and for years to come.

Sources: National Diabetes Data Group. Diabetes in America, 2nd edition. NIDDK, 1995.
American Diabetes Association. Diabetes mellitus and exercise. Position Statement, Rev. 1999. Diabetes Care 23(Suppl 1), Jan. 2000.