Why You Should Exercise Every Day

Researchers at the University of Michigan show that exercise helps to control blood sugar only while you do it and for a few hours afterwards (Journal of Applied Physiology, February 2010). The authors also showed that restricting food after exercising does not clear blood sugar any better than eating a regular meal. The second point is very important because eating after exercising helps you to recover faster for your next exercise session, and you recover faster from exercise by eating a sugar- and protein-rich meal within one hour after you stop. Previous studies show that contracting muscles remove sugar rapidly from the bloodstream, without needing insulin, during and up to one hour after exercise. The effect tapers off to zero at about 17 hours after you finish exercising (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2008).

This study from the University of Michigan adds to the abundant evidence that exercise helps to prevent diabetes and its horrible side effects. Diabetes will affect one out of every three Americans. When your blood sugar rises too high, sugar sticks to cells. Once there, it can never get off. Eventually it is converted to sorbitol which destroys the cell to cause heart attacks, strokes, blindness, deafness, amputations, brain damage, impotence and so forth.

Doctors measure the amount of sugar stuck on cells with a blood test called HBA1C. A study from the University of Calgary shows that both aerobic and strength exercise lower HBA1C by 0.5 per cent in diabetics (Annals of Internal Medicine, September 18, 2007). Those who did both types of exercise lowered it by twice as much. A decrease of 1.0 percent in HBA1C value (from 7.0 to 6.0) is associated with a 20 percent decreased risk for heart attacks and strokes, and a 25 percent to 40 percent decrease in risk of diabetes-related eye disease or kidney disease.