HAMILTON, Ont. — Type 2 diabetics who struggle to exercise enough can find some promise in a small McMaster University pilot study that suggests short vigorous workouts rapidly lower blood sugar levels.
The short high-intensity workouts, which consisted of three sessions a week at 25 minutes a workout, also reduced blood sugar spikes after meals and increased metabolic health.
In each 25-minute workout, participants exercised vigorously for 10 minutes. Each diabetic rode a stationary bike for 60 seconds at about 90 per cent of their maximum heart rate, followed by one minute of rest.
“They can get away with less total exercise time and still reap health benefits as long as they are willing to go hard for short periods of time,” said McMaster kinesiology professor Martin Gibala, the study’s supervising author.
The study appears in the latest edition of Journal of Applied Physiology.
Gibala has completed similar studies on young healthy participants that showed health benefits from this type of high-intensity interval training. But the question he heard was always the same: would this type of training work for others?
Gibala said this study adds to the growing body of evidence showing that people with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and metabolic syndrome, can benefit from and safely perform interval training.
Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which your body does not properly use or produce enough insulin, a hormone that helps your body control the level of glucose in your blood. Over time, high blood glucose levels can cause complications such as heart disease and blindness. Managing blood sugar levels is an essential component to managing diabetes.
Dr. Paul Oh, a Canadian Diabetes Association cochair, said regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do to live well with diabetes. He said regular physical activity, along with healthy eating and weight control, can reduce diabetes incidence by 60 per cent.
The association’s current guidelines call for 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week — twice the training time commitment of the study participants.
Oh pointed out that the research findings from McMaster University are based on a small sample, eight patients whose average age was 63, so more comprehensive research needs to be conducted to determine the potential benefits for people with Type 2 diabetes.
Gibala said a potential downside to these workouts is that it can be uncomfortable working out at 90 per cent of your maximum heart rate.
“But if people are willing to put up with that temporary discomfort, it would appear they can get away with less total exercise,” he said.
Participants showed improved blood sugar levels even though they did not lose weight.
But the lack of weight loss would make those types of workouts a non-starter for Paul Legall, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes nine years ago.
“I wouldn’t do it,” said Legall, an avid exerciser who walks about nine km daily. “Controlling your weight is a big thing when you are a diabetic. There’s more to diabetes than controlling blood sugar. For overall health, or to get really fit, you have to do a heck of a lot more than that.”