Effects of Exercise on Diabetes free essay sample

Abstract Type II diabetes is a major health problem in the United States and around the world. Ir is a metabolic disorder resulting from the body’s inability to produce enough or properly utilize insulin. Of all the diabetic diagnoses, 85-90% of them are type II diabetes, which attributed to 224,092 deaths in 2002 in the United States alone. Exercise has long been looked at as a treatment regiment for type II diabetic patients due to its improvement on many metabolic parameters including improved glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, fasting plasma glucose, body composition, lean body mass, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Based on research articles reviewed from Oakland Universities Kresge Library databases including Google Scholar, PubMed, and Medline, an essential component of controlling type II diabetes is to engage in regular physical activity. The optimal exercise program is a combination of both endurance and resistance exercise at least three nonconsecutive days per week. We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of Exercise on Diabetes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Exercise is essential to not only controlling the adverse effects of type II diabetes but also to improving individuals overall quality of life. Keywords: Type II diabetes, resistance training, aerobic training, improvement, glycemic control, exercise, effects The Effects of Exercise on Type II Diabetes Diabetes is becoming an increasing problem in the United States and around the world. In fact, diabetes is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States with type II diabetes accounting for ninety percent of all diabetic cases (Albright, Et al. , 2000). The numbers surrounding diabetic cases are overwhelming. Over the past forty years the number of diabetic cases in the United States alone have increased six times over and now cost the United States more than one-hundred thirty-two billon dollars in medical cost every year (Taylor, 2009). According to Taylor (2009), the number of type II diabetes cases are increasing so rapidly that the chronic illness is now considered a pandemic. Type II diabetes will be one of the most challenging health problems of this millennium. Diabetes contributed to 224,092 deaths in 2002 alone (Taylor, 2009). In an effort to help control the increasing rate of type II diabetes related deaths, there has been an increasing interest on the effects of exercise on type II diabetes maintenance. Today, many researchers are interested in the effects of aerobic and resistance training on individuals with type II diabetes. The goal is to find a correlation between exercise and several parameters of the disease including: glycemic control, insulin levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglyceride levels, weight, and body composition. Because type II diabetes is an illness resulting from insulin resistance the effects of exercise on insulin levels and glycemic control in type II diabetics is very important in determining whether exercise is an effective treatment regime. Type II diabetes is an illness resulting from increased insulin resistance in the body. Individuals with type II diabetes have normal or above normal production of insulin in the body, but their bodies do not respond efficiently to the insulin that has been secreted (World Book Encyclopedia, 1993). The glucose metabolism in an individual involves a balance between the insulin that is produced in the body and the body’s responsiveness to it. An individual becomes at risk for type II diabetes when this balance is no longer controlled. The lack of control begins when cells in muscle, fat, and the liver lose their ability to respond to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Due to this resistance, the pancreas increases its production of insulin, eventually causing the insulin-producing cells to give out, resulting in the imbalance between insulin action and insulin production (Taylor, 2009). There are several risk factors that contribute to type II diabetes, many of which could be prevented with regular exercise. Some risk factors for type II diabetes include being overweight, getting little exercise, having high blood pressure, having a family history, or being a member of a high risk ethnic group, such as African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (Jennings, 2009). Insulin resistance has been caused by many aspects of the Western lifestyle, such as overeating, being sedentary, and living a stressful daily life (Sato, 2000). On the other hand, there is an uncontrollable component to the risk of type II diabetes: genetics. When a genetically predisposed individual couples their risk with other factors such as obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, their risk of developing type II diabetes is increased significantly (Eriksson, 1999). Based on the risk factors alone, regular exercise appears to e an undeniable source of prevention and treatment in the case of type II diabetes. The goal of treatment of type II diabetes is to achieve and maintain near normal blood glucose levels and optimal lipid levels to prevent or prolong the onset of complications involved with diabetes (Eastman et al. , 1993). There are a few treatment options for individuals with type II diabetes. There are both nonpharmacological and pharmaceutical routes to treatment. Pharmaceuti cal treatment includes such things as insulin, while the nonpharmacological treatment includes aspects like diet and exercise. In fact, diet therapy and exercise have been effectively recommended to individuals with diabetes for over two thousand years (Eriksson, 2009). The results of exercise training range from physiological to metabolical and hormonal. Exercise can be used as a therapeutic means to improve overall metabolic control (Honkola, Forsen, Eriksson, 1997). It is an optimal means to improve hypertension, glycemic control, cholesterol, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, body weight, and create a healthier overall lifestyle for those diagnosed with type II diabetes. A long-term complication associated with type II diabetes is hypertension, presumably caused by obesity and the lack of exercise. According to research on exercise and diabetes, there is a linear relationship between exercise and blood pressure. According to Honkola (1997), there is a slight decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of type II diabetics after a rigorous five-month exercise program (Honkola, 1997). In the research article by Dunstan et al. (2001), blood pressure was significantly reduced in type II diabetics after a six-month training program (Dunstan et al. , 2001). It is also plausible to state that glycogen levels in type II diabetics can also be decreased by use of exercise therapy. High blood glucose levels in type II diabetics can be caused by three factors: 1) inadequate insulin produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar, 2) decreased insulin effects on peripheral tissue, 3) the combination of inadequate insulin production and decreased insulin effects on peripheral tissue (Albright, 2000). Exercise is helpful in regulating blood glucose because skeletal muscle is the main consumer of glucose transport in blood, approximately 70 to 90% (Albright, 2000). In well-controlled diabetics, physical exercise promotes the utilization of blood glucose and therefore lowers the level glucose in the blood (Sato, 2000). Based on Sato’s research, obese patients with type II diabetes will benefit from only thirty minutes of low intensity bicycle exercise. Just this amount of exercise will decrease the insulin-induced glucose uptake shortly after the exercise session. Research done by Castaneda et al. (2002) supports Sato’s conclusion: exercise does improve the glycemic levels in diabetics.