Types of exercise

No doubt a healthcare professional has encouraged you to exercise to help manage your diabetes. It can be very confusing when you expect exercise to lower your blood sugar, but instead it rises.

Regular physical activity is important to help meet diabetes management goals. There are four main types of physical activity.

The last two rules of the F.I.T.T. principle relate to time and type of exercise.

As outlined in previous blogs, there are many benefits obtained from a combination of aerobic and resistance training. So, what does yoga offer that is different? Why are more and more people attracted to this discipline of exercise?

All physical activity is good for people with diabetes, but different types of exercise can present different benefits. The two main types of exercise are aerobic exercise and resistance exercise.

On a recent trip to my home town in northern India, I had an opportunity to visit a yoga ashram, which had a reputation of helping people living with diabetes.

The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (CPAG) for youth under17 recommend 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise weekly, and specify that this should include vigorous-intensity activities at least 3 days a week. For adults, the guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week.