[acb-diabetics] exeercise and seniors

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

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This article originally posted 20 November, 2009 and appeared in  

Issue 496

How Little Exercise It Takes to Have a Big Impact  

 

Sheri_Colberg-Ochs

By 

Sheri Colberg-Ochs, Ph.D.

 

Everyone always thinks that exercise is an all-or-none thing. "Something
came up during the time I planned to exercise today, so I'll just have to do
it

tomorrow" or "I just don't have the time or the energy to do anything today"
are common excuses I've heard. In prior columns, I've talked about how to

motivate people to be more physically active and how important it is to get
people doing anything, regardless of how insignificant it might be
considered

by a triathlete or other serious athlete. Now, I have even more evidence to
support the claim that doing even minimal amounts of exercise training can

positively impact long-term health.

 

My research collaborators and I recently completed a pilot study addressing
the issue that older individuals with diabetes are often at a greater risk
of

falling when compared to age-matched, healthy individuals. Our study was
aimed at assessing the effects of balance and strength training on falls
risk

and posture in older individuals with Type 2 diabetes. To study this, we
recruited 16 individuals with Type 2 diabetes and 21 age-matched controls
(all

between the ages of 50-75 yrs) to participate in a simple, 6-week exercise
program. Participants came to our lab for supervised exercise three times
per

week. Each exercise session was completed in 60 minutes and began with a
balance/posture component that included simple stretches of the lower limb
muscles

and easy exercises for the lower limb, abdominal, and lower back muscles.
This was followed by a core resistance/strength training component, which
consisted

of a series of lower- and upper-limb exercises performed using strength
training machines (Atlantis Precision). Each participant performed 1-2
moderate

sets of 10-12 repetitions with rests between exercises. To be fair, most
people don't have access to resistance machines like we used in this study
at

home, but our emphasis was mostly on the balance training exercises (such as
practicing standing on one leg at a time), which required no special
equipment

to do. Moreover, many of the resistance exercises could have been conducted
using inexpensive resistance bands or household items.  

 

Here is an illustration of one of the low-back strengthening exercises
incorporated into the training program we used:

 

Sheri_Colberg_Exercise  

 

For the study, we assessed postural stability and falls risk for all
participants before and after the 6-week exercise intervention, and what we
found surprised

even us. The diabetic individuals had significantly higher falls risk score
compared to controls before undertaking the exercise program. The diabetes

group also exhibited evidence of mild-to-moderate neuropathy, slower
reaction times and increased postural sway. Following exercise, this same
group showed

a significant reduction in falls risk score, which was attributed to their
increased leg strength, faster reaction times, and decreased sway. 

 

Thus, even though older individuals with diabetes may have impaired balance,
slower reactions and consequently a higher falls risk than others of the
same

age, simple balance training, combined with some light resistance work, can
improve all of these variables in just 18 exercise sessions done over a
six-week

period. Together these results demonstrate that structured exercise has
wide-spread positive effects on physiological function for older individuals
with

Type 2 diabetes. Now, if that doesn't demonstrate the power of doing some
mild activity, even just for six weeks, I don't know what does!


 

 

If you need tips for getting started on an exercise program, check out my
book entitled The 7 Step Diabetes Fitness Plan. For people with any type of
diabetes

who are already more active, you will benefit more from Diabetic Athlete's
Handbook. For other tips on exercise, fitness, diabetes, nutrition, and
more,

please visit my website and exercise blog at 

www.shericolberg.com.  

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