As we advance in age we tend to become less active and our muscles gradually atrophy and become weaker. Decreasing muscle mass and strength could be a greater concern for Type 2 diabetics than non-diabetics, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association in March 2013.
Investigators at the Top Institute of Food and Nutrition and their colleagues at other institutions in the Netherlands, compared muscle mass and strength in:
- 60 older men with Type 2 diabetes with that of
- 32 men of the same age with normal blood sugar levels.
Men with Type 2 diabetes were found to have less muscle mass and less strength in their arm and leg muscles than men without diabetes. Leg and hand strength were also lower in the diabetic group. On average, it took diabetic patients longer to stand from a sitting position than it did the non-diabetic participants.
From this information it was concluded older people showed a faster decline in muscle mass and strength than the non-diabetic participants. They suggest exercise programs for muscle mass, strength, and ability.
The ability to stand from a sitting position was not selected at random as a test of fitness. The ability to rise from the floor can predict mortality, according to a study reported in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in December of 2012.
- 2002 people aged 51 to 80 were asked to sit on the floor and rise to a standing position.
- they were graded according to how many limbs they needed to sit down onto the floor and then stand up.
- during the next 6.3 years 159 of the participants died.
Those who used the most limbs to stand up and sit down had more than five times the rate of death as those using the fewest limbs.
Exercises that improve strength and flexibility work not only on the arm and leg muscles but upon the whole body.
- working your arms and legs gives your heart and lungs a workout and helps your cells become more sensitive to insulin.
- your bones take in calcium and become stronger.
- when your heart gets a workout it becomes stronger and your blood pressure is easier to control.
Healthy lungs can take in oxygen and pass it to your blood, which carries it through your body. When you are able to use insulin you can use sugar for energy. Having strong bones helps to prevent fractures and the hazards of immobility.
If you are young and able to get up and down easily, plan to keep your physical activity level the same into old age. If you are older, it is not too late to begin an exercise program. According to an article published in 2002 in the journal Family Practice, six months' aerobic exercise can reverse up to 33 percent of age-related decline in the ability to take in and use oxygen.
See your doctor for an exercise plan based upon your capacity.
Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. You can take control of the disease and take back your health.
For nearly 25 years Beverleigh Piepers has searched for and found a number of secrets to help you build a healthy body.
The answer isn't in the endless volumes of available information but in yourself.
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