Sunday, May 18, 2008

Exercise Is Necessary Even If You Are Old!

Exercise seems to be a routine that you cannot afford to miss, whether you are a healthy person or a person with some kind of medical disorder. Especially when you land into the category of overweight or even obese, exercise is even more important as it will somehow assist you manage your body weight.

Recently, a study had found that a week of exercise significantly improved the function of insulin-making beta cells for a group of sedentary older people who are at risk of developing diabetes. The researchers from University of Michigan published their findings during March 2008 in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Although the study showed that short-term exercise boosts insulin sensitivity, how it might affect beta cell function remains a mystery.

Beta cell function is known to decline with age though the cause is not clear. Ageing may also make people less sensitive to the blood sugar-regulating effects of insulin and impaired insulin secretion may be developed.

There are 12 sedentary individuals aged 60 and above were examined in the study. They were asked to perform an hour-long workout every day for a week. Stints on a treadmill, exercise bike and cross-training machine were included in the exercise sessions. The participants were required to work out at 60 percent to 70 percent of their maximum allowable heart rate capacity.

At the end of one week, the sensitivity to insulin showed an increase of 53 percent, on average, and the beta cell function (called the disposition index) had raised by 28 percent for the study participants. Meanwhile, the researchers could not find any changes in the fat mass, levels of fat in the blood, or any other factors that might explain the effect of exercise on beta cells.

As such, the researchers indicates that longer-term exercise training studies are required and are in fact in progress currently to evaluate further exercise training effects on beta cell function in age-related glucose intolerance.

Diabetes is a condition, if not managed well, that might lead to other complications like kidney failure, blindness, and neuropathy. Meanwhile, a diabetic may have a higher risk of getting heart disease.

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