Staying physically active and maintaining a healthy lifestyle are the recommended ways to manage diabetes. Physical activity at specific times of the day has a greater impact on a person’s blood sugar levels, a new study finds.
Health experts recommend that people with diabetes control their blood sugar, as uncontrolled blood sugar levels can lead to serious health conditions, such as heart disease, vision impairment, and kidney disease.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Joslin Diabetes Center have now found that exercising in the afternoon can help lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.
“In this study, we found that adults with type 2 diabetes had the greatest improvement in blood sugar control when they were most active in the afternoon,” explain Co-corresponding author Jingyi Qian, from Brigham’s Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Disorders Unit. “We already know that physical activity is beneficial, but our study adds to the new understanding that the timing of activity may also matter.”
new findings study Published in Diabetes Care.
The team analyzed the physical activity of 2,400 participants during the first and fourth years. Physical activity was recorded with the help of a waist-worn accelerometer recording device worn by the participants.
After a year of trial, researchers found that patients who exercised in the afternoon had the greatest reduction in blood sugar levels. When comparing the data at year 4, blood sugar levels remained lower in the group that exercised in the afternoon. They also had the highest chance of stopping or lowering diabetes medications.
“Timing seems to matter,” said co-corresponding author Roeland Middelbeek, a research assistant at the Joslin Diabetes Center. “Going forward, we may have more data and experimental evidence to provide patients with more personalized recommendations.”
The study was limited because it was observational and did not measure confounding factors such as sleep and dietary intake. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms to determine why the time of day of activity affects blood sugar control.
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Published by Medicaldaily.com