High blood sugar affects exercise capacity

We know that exercise normalizes blood levels in diabetics, but now the flip side has emerged that high blood glucose levels themselves affect the ability of patients to exercise.

If someone is suffering from pre-diabetes, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, regular exercise protects against the destruction of veins and tissues, high blood pressure, and heart diseases. It is now known that the severe condition of diabetes makes even exercise itself difficult and hence its full benefits are not reaped.

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This is because due to the high glucose level in the blood, patients do not fully burn oxygen and the body becomes resistant to exercise. This research was done by Joslin Diabetes Center in Israel. They began to consider how elevated blood sugar levels interfere with exercise and how reducing it can provide benefits.

According to a report published in the journal Diabetes, if exercisers first take a blood sugar-lowering drug, the benefits of exercise may be more significant because the body's metabolic system starts to work a little better.

Research scientist Dr. Sarah J. Lessard says she wanted to know why some diabetes patients cannot exercise despite trying, and its benefits remain unfulfilled. By understanding this situation, a better strategy to control diabetes can be devised.

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For this, mice models were tested and fed a drug called canagliflozin, which lowers blood sugar. These rats were diabetic and subjected to exercise for six months. The rats in the second group were also diabetic but were not given any drugs. Now the mice that were given the glucose-lowering drug showed better performance in the exercise.

The experts then examined the tissues and bones of the mice and tried to find a physiological response to the reduced exercise capacity. It turns out that chronic high blood sugar can affect our muscles and impair our ability to exercise, and the good news is that you can get back to exercising better by getting your blood sugar levels back to normal. In the next stage, more research will be done in this regard.

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