[Cricket]

After 14 days of reduced physical activity, all participants had higher levels of fat and their bodies were less able to respond to the hormone insulin, known as insulin resistance. New Study Shows How Just 14 Days of Inactivity Impacts on Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Dang it! Does this mean I need to get off my tush and get back to my daily walks again?

I am running out of excuses. :wink2:

 

[Hearts Jounrey]

Cricket, i have a cure for you. Follow the path of Forest Gump and just decide to run, and run, and run, and keep on running. Your in Texas so you can start by running from your home to next block, then town, then city, and across the state of Texas. I suggest you go West and then zero in on Santa Fe New Mexico, then Tuscon Arz, and then Santa Monica Calif. At that point i can meet you on the pier and ill buy you lunch. If running is a bit too ambitious, you can walk. Bet you you can finally breakup with Metformin. You just felt like running.

 

[mbuster]

Trying to keep my daily step goal streak going, I fret about missing 1 day, 14 days is out of the equation.

 

[VeeJay]

I'm not impressed with the article. And the study that it is based on is not cited.

Previous research has shown that being physically inactive can have harmful effects on the body, but this research takes these findings further by suggesting these effects could be even greater if there is a family history of type 2 diabetes…..

A study by scientists from the University of Liverpool in the UK looked at 45 people with active lifestyles, including 16 who have close blood relatives with type 2 diabetes…..

After 14 days of reduced physical activity, all participants had higher levels of fat and their bodies were less able to respond to the hormone insulin, known as insulin resistance….

Just 45 people???!!! Only 16 with T2 diabetes???? And NO mention of DIET - which is more important than exercise.

IMO this is just an expansion of the myth that if one just exercises one can avoid diabetes, etc., etc.

 

[Bunjee]

The study was presented at a conference, so the information isn't yet published (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/research/news/articles/sedentary-lifestyles-harmful-diabetes-family/). In addition, ALL of the participants showed the change, so that is rather significant. Yes, to show that it can be specifically linked to diabetes, you need a larger sample than 16, but what it does confirm is that stopping regular exercise for only 2 weeks causes deconditioning.

For me, it explains why reduced exercise seems to be such a problem for me. I figured a little was better than nothing, but maybe a little is no different from sedentary. I know some study out there is going to tell me that sit down exercises do nothing...I am going to hate that when that comes out.

 

[kyteflyer]

I envy those of you who can walk and run. I have osteo of my hips, spine, shoulders and hands, I have an exercise bike which I have been back on, but that rotation of hip is so painful I just cannot keep it up. Cant afford a hip replacement. Controlling diabetes when you are not active at all is possible, but its not easy. Its all about the diet and staying low carb.

 

[VeeJay]

Controlling diabetes when you are not active at all is possible, but its not easy. Its all about the diet and staying low carb.

Similar situation for me, Sue. I can walk the treadmill a little over half a mile, but more than that I'm in pain from back issues.

I am fortunate that I can control BG through diet alone. Last A1C was 4.8.

 

[Squawkx]

Fourteen days of inactivity? If that two weeks is spent on the couch, and in a sedentary way, that is going to leave a mark.
It does not sound like a good idea at all; and common sense should kick in at some point. My mind would be yelling at me to go outside, and get some air and sun.

 

[macyj]

I envy those of you who can walk and run. I have osteo of my hips, spine, shoulders and hands, I have an exercise bike which I have been back on, but that rotation of hip is so painful I just cannot keep it up. Cant afford a hip replacement. Controlling diabetes when you are not active at all is possible, but its not easy. Its all about the diet and staying low carb.

I have a similar problem. I used to work out at a gym regularly until I developed bursitis in the hip and knee. All of the machines and any exercise I did other than the physical therapy I was doing just made me worse, so I had to quit. I'm at the place now where I can at least walk a little by my endurance is so bad now that I can't walk very far anymore. Trying to build that up again, but I fight chronic fatigue as well. I know I need to keep moving somehow, because what you don't use you lose even more of, but it is getting harder and harder.

 

[T1DHouston]

Wake-up call!

Cricket, thanks for posting. I've been T1D for 46 years and have always been very active: walking, weight lifting, etc. and have so far had no serious side effects, but all this changed at the beginning of the year. I became a full-time contractor and now spend 95% of my work life sitting. Since then, I have begun gaining weight and losing muscle. :surprise: I've recently been diagnosed with osteopenia, arthritis and tachycardia. This is no coincidence!

So Cricket's post and the linked article were a great wake-up call for me. I have two dogs; both would be happy with more than one walk a day, and I have dumbbells and an ankle weight which are collecting dust at the moment. Just like Cricket, I am out of excuses!

 

[kyteflyer]

I have a similar problem. I used to work out at a gym regularly until I developed bursitis in the hip and knee. All of the machines and any exercise I did other than the physical therapy I was doing just made me worse, so I had to quit. I'm at the place now where I can at least walk a little by my endurance is so bad now that I can't walk very far anymore. Trying to build that up again, but I fight chronic fatigue as well. I know I need to keep moving somehow, because what you don't use you lose even more of, but it is getting harder and harder.

I've lost it now. I have quite severe lung congestion as a result of a heart which doesn't pump effectively, and whilst I am now on two diuretics, it doesn't help that much and the deterioration is proceeding rather rapidly. Now, I get chest pain if I am only walking to the mailbox. OH well, I've had a good life, just was not expecting it to end in the few years I have left.

 

[macyj]

I've lost it now. I have quite severe lung congestion as a result of a heart which doesn't pump effectively, and whilst I am now on two diuretics, it doesn't help that much and the deterioration is proceeding rather rapidly. Now, I get chest pain if I am only walking to the mailbox. OH well, I've had a good life, just was not expecting it to end in the few years I have left.

Sorry to hear that Kyteflyer.

 

[mbuster]

Will be praying for your health to improve.

 

[kyteflyer]

@macyj and @mbuster: thanks for those kind words. Its all self inflicted, alas, with a body type like mine, continuing exercise of some kind was absolutely essential and I didn't pay attention to the warnings I received from it over the years. I had some decent advice from a physiotherapist this past week who suggested that gentle exercise in a pool (aka hydrotherapy) might help me get moving (had unrelenting foot pain which totally disabled me... luckily seems to be subsiding now) so I am to see my GP for a referral.

Edit: Gotta say, the benefits of exercise aren't just about weight loss (though that would be nice in my case) but also about just feeling better in yourself. I'm pretty much the same weight I was before I was diagnosed, but back then I was also indoor cycling 30 minutes twice a day, and I felt fine. Then I had ingrown toe surgery to both feet and stopped cycling. Now I can't, and I have lost all the benefits of having been doing that at the time.