Digital Scryer

OBJECTIVES: This study determined whether the incidence of diabetes is reduced among physically active older women. METHODS: We assessed physical activity by mailed questionnaire and 12-year incidence of diabetes (ostensibly type 2 diabetes) in a cohort of 34257 women aged 55 to 69 years. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, education, smoking, alcohol intake, estrogen use, dietary variables, and family history of diabetes, women who reported any physical activity had a relative risk of diabetes of 0.69 (95% confidence interval = 0.63, 0.77) compared with sedentary women. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that physical activity is important for type 2 diabetes prevention among older women.

http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/1/134

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Time for some older news, the above abstract comes from The American Journal of Public Health in January of ‘00. I found it and decided to post it because Diabetes (especially the type 2 variety) runs rampant in both sides of my family, who admittedly is full of members (mostly women) who run the gamut from overweight to obese.

My kid sister, who really isn’t a kid anymore, recently started a light weight loss program to ease herself into it. She was starting to get severely worried about her weight, appearance, propensity for diabetes and heart disease, and her cholesterol after a recent trip to the doctor.

Back on track, this study basically scientifically confirms common sense advice. Exercise is good for you and great for helping to prevent and even reverse diabetes. Remember the huge dude from the movie Super Size Me? His gastric bypass cured his diabetes and hypertension as shown in the ending credits, with photos in which he looked quite strapping. While I wouldn’t recommend gastric bypass for everyone, or anyone really, it goes to show what dropping significant weight can do for you.

Many studies over the years say to do a half hour of exercise 3 times a week. That’s an hour and a half of not being a couch potato. The problem most people have is that they stop pushing themselves. You ALWAYS have to feel the burn or be out of breath, otherwise it’s not exercise. When a physical routine stops making you feel the burn (or at least feeling the burn intensely) then it’s time to make it harder or longer or both.

A Japanese scientist by the name of Dr. Izumi Tabata recently discovered that going all out for a couple minutes and then slowing down for a third the time for a breath, then hitting it hard again rapidly puts your body into top physical shape. This is accomplished by reaching, and maintaining, a balance in your aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms. Speed skaters train this way, and while it’s not as effective as power lifting training for putting on strength and muscle mass, it’s best for general physical shape.

An example of doing this would be to hit the bike or sprint all out for twenty seconds, then slow down to a crawl for cool down, then hit it again for another twenty seconds. Tabata’s studies showed this to be super effective at even four minutes a day with a four minute cool down at the end. This pretty much completely defeats the “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse favored by so many.

While there are many factors contributing to diabetes, especially dietary components, keeping fit is one of the best ways to help tackle this epidemic, especially if you just can’t keep from having another bite.

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Technorati Tags: American Journal of Public Health, cholesterol, Diabetes, Exercise, Gastric Bypass, heart disease, hypertension, Izumi Tabata, Super Size Me, Weightloss, Women