Even two weeks of inactivity detrimental to vulnerable diabetic patients

Even two weeks of inactivity can significantly harm the health of already vulnerable diabetic patients, says a study by McMaster University on overweight older adults who were at risk to develop type 2 diabetes. The study was recently published in The Journals of Gerontology and reports that not only is an abrupt and brief period during which activity is stopped, leads to severely high levels of sugar in the blood but also prevents patients from fully recovering when they return to normal activity. Chris McGlory, a researcher from Diabetes Canada at the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University and lead author of the study, said, "We expected to find that study participants would become diabetic, but we were surprised to see that they did not return to their healthier state when they returned to normal activity. "

The research team asked participants to reduce the number of steps they took each day to less than 1000 steps, which is equivalent to the steps you would take, for example when you were confined to home due to illness or for some other reason.The steps and activity of the participants were measured by pedometers and various specialized activity monitors.The research team also tested participants' blood sugar levels over a two-week period

Study results indicate that elderly patients go through small periods of physical inactivity due to illness, Hospitalization and bed rest, are at greater risk of suffering dangerous consequences for their health.

"The treatment of type 2 diabetes is expensive and often complicated. If people have to be on their feet for a long time, they have to work actively to regain their ability to manage blood sugar, "says Stuart Philips, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Mcmaster University.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 million Americans are diabetic and more than 84 million are prediabetic. The number of cases of type 2 diabetes is also increasing dramatically in Canada. About 60,000 new cases are reported each year, says the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"For prediabetic elderly to regain their metabolic health and prevent further declines in periods of inactivity, strategies such as active rehabilitation and dietary changes and perhaps drugs may be useful ", added McGlory.