This blog post was written in partnership with Ascensia Diabetes Care, a company dedicated to improving the lives of people with diabetes and helping empower them to take charge of their health and happiness.
Did you know that over 11.9 million people in Canada are living with diabetes or prediabetes – a condition that can turn into type 2 diabetes if left unmanaged? With November being Diabetes Awareness Month, we thought it would be the perfect time to discuss how to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes and the important role that physical activity plays in both.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease where the body either can’t produce insulin or isn’t able to properly use the insulin it does make. Produced by the pancreas (an organ located in the abdomen), insulin is a hormone that regulates blood glucose (i.e., sugar). Our bodies need insulin to fuel our day-to-day activities, from walking or wheeling to breathing.
If diabetes is left untreated, blood sugar levels rise instead of being used by the body for energy. Over time, too much blood sugar can damage nerves, blood vessels and organs, leading to many health complications (such as kidney failure, amputations and blindness) and possibly even death.
Type 1 diabetes vs. type 2, gestational and prediabetes
There are three types of diabetes: gestational, type 1 and type 2:
- Prediabetes is a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but are not yet high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Around 6.1% of Canada’s population has prediabetes. If left unmanaged, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes will increase. Although not everyone with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes, many people will, but taking steps to manage your blood sugar can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
- Gestational diabetes is a temporary form of diabetes that happens during pregnancy where the body can’t make enough insulin to deal with the effects of a growing baby and changing hormone levels. Around 3 to 20% of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes, but it usually disappears after they give birth.
- Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks the pancreas so that it can’t make insulin. While it typically develops in childhood or adolescence, type 1 diabetes can arise in adulthood, too. Because safe and effective ways to prevent type 1 diabetes haven’t been identified yet, this blog focuses specifically on preventing and managing type 2 diabetes.
- Type 2 diabetes is a disease where the pancreas can’t make enough insulin, or the body can’t properly use the insulin the pancreas does make. Around 90% of people in Canada living with diabetes have type 2.
Type 2 diabetes risk factors
There are many factors that raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. While you can reduce many of them through lifestyle changes, you can’t change other factors like your genes, age or ethnicity. Higher rates of type 2 diabetes are often reported among individuals who are marginalized due to their ethnicity and those with lower education and income levels. Here are some of the most common risk factors for type 2 diabetes:
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Overweight and obesity (especially if excess fat is carried around the abdominal area)
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- Certain mental health disorders, including bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Physical inactivity
Type 2 diabetes symptoms
Type 2 diabetes symptoms often take several years to develop. Some people don’t notice any symptoms at all. Because symptoms are hard to spot, it’s important to know the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
Some common type 2 diabetes symptoms include:
- Frequent thirst and urination
- Weight changes
- Fatigue
- Blurry vision
- Slow-healing cuts
- Numbness or tingling in your hands or feet
- Frequent or recurring infections
How to manage type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes can often be effectively managed through:
- Eating healthy foods, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins.
- Aiming for a healthy body weight.
- Managing stress.
- Engaging in regular physical activity – aim for 150 minutes of heart-pumping physical activity per week. Being active makes your body more sensitive to insulin, which helps manage your diabetes. Physical activity also helps control blood sugar levels and lowers your risk of heart disease and nerve damage.
- Regularly testing your blood sugar with an accurate blood glucose monitoring system such as CONTOUR®NEXT GEN. Accurate blood sugar readings can help you make better decisions about food, activity and changes in treatment.
- Taking diabetes medications including insulin, if prescribed by your doctor.
How type 2 diabetes can be prevented
For many, even those with prediabetes, type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed through lifestyle changes, the most effective being eating healthy, losing excess weight and being more physically active.
Why regular physical activity can help prevent and manage type 2 diabetes
- Physical activity helps push sugar from your bloodstream into your muscles, where it’s used as a form of energy.
- Regular strength-training makes your muscles more efficient at using glucose, meaning your body requires less insulin to lower your blood sugar levels.
- High stress levels can worsen insulin resistance through the fight-or-flight response, which shrinks your blood vessels, resulting in less sugar going to your muscles. Since regular physical activity helps reduce stress levels, it improves your body’s insulin response.
The best types of physical activity to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes
According to the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults and Diabetes Canada’s recommendations, aim to do at least 150 minutes per week of heart-pumping physical activity such as brisk walking or wheeling, jogging, cycling, swimming or dancing. Both sets of guidelines also recommend doing resistance exercises two to three times per week, including weightlifting and bodyweight exercises.
7 tips for getting active with type 2 diabetes
- Find out which activities are suitable for you. If you have any complications as a result of diabetes, some types of physical activity may be trickier to fully participate in, so check with a health-care provider before starting any new type of physical activity to see if it’s right for you and/or modify the activity if needed.
- Regularly check your blood sugar. To see how exercise affects your blood sugar levels (especially if you’re starting a new activity or recently changed your medication or insulin), check your blood sugar before, during and after exercise using a blood glucose monitoring system such as CONTOUR®NEXT GEN, which is easy to use and highly accurate, with a large, high-contrast display with easy-to-read results. CONTOUR®NEXT GEN’s smartLIGHT® target range indicator helps interpret blood sugar results, and you can save test strips thanks to Second-Chance® sampling technology.
- Choose activities you enjoy. You’ll be more likely to stick with them if they bring you joy.
- Wear comfortable, properly fitting shoes. Because people with diabetes sometimes have foot problems, check with your doctor or podiatrist to make sure you have suitable shoes. If it’s unsafe to walk, try activities like cycling or swimming instead.
- Start small. If 150 minutes of heart-pumping physical activity seems overwhelming, start with doing five to 10 minutes of physical activity per day and gradually build up to that goal. Go on short walks or wheels after meals or take five-minute stretch breaks throughout your workday.
- Join group fitness classes, sports teams, walking groups or online communities. They’ll not only make you more accountable, but they’ll also help you build social connections.
- Don’t overdo it. Listen to your body and stop if you feel unwell.
Where to find support for preventing or managing diabetes
- Contact your primary health-care provider if you have concerns about preventing or managing type 2 diabetes.
- Diabetes education centres and support groups are available across Canada – ask your health-care provider for more information.
- Diabetes Canada’s website has many articles, podcast episodes and virtual learning opportunities.
- Diabetes Quebec provides information on diabetes and diabetes management, as well as online learning modules (in French only).
- University of Toronto’s Patient & Family Education Resources make it easy to access multiple resources about diabetes in one place (e.g., diabetes basics, nutrition, physical activity and risk assessment).
As you’ve discovered, making healthy lifestyle changes like becoming more physically active, and regularly monitoring blood sugar with tools like CONTOUR®NEXT GEN, can help you prevent and manage type 2 diabetes. Visit AscensiaDiabetes.ca to learn more.
