Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Stuart Philips (left) and Chris McGlory (centre), both researchers from McMaster University, working with research subject (right). | Credit: JD Howell, McMaster University

Even two weeks of inactivity can drastically harm the health of already vulnerable diabetic patients, claims a research done by McMaster University on older overweight adults who were at a risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The study was published recently in The Journals of Gerontology and reports that not only an abrupt, small period when activity is halted, leads to severely elevated levels of blood sugar but also stops patients from fully recovering when they eventually returned to normal activity for the next two weeks.

Chris McGlory, a Diabetes Canada Research Fellow in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University and also the lead author of the study said, “We expected to find that the study participants would become diabetic, but we were surprised to see that they didn’t revert back to their healthier state when they returned to normal activity.”

The research team asked the participants to reduce the number of steps they took daily to under 1000 steps, which is the equivalent of steps you would take, say when you were housebound due to an illness or some other reason. The steps and the activity of the participants were measured by pedometers and various specialized activity monitors. The research team also tested the blood-sugar levels of the participants over a two-week period.

The results of the study indicated that senior patients who go through small periods of physical inactivity because of say- illness, hospitalization and bed rest, are at an higher risk of experiencing dangerous consequences to their health.

“Treatment of type 2 diabetes is expensive and often complicated. If people are going to be off their feet for an extended period they need to work actively to recover their ability to handle blood sugar”, explained Stuart Philips, professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Mcmaster University.

Recent statistics collected by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that as much as 30 million Americans have diabetes and over 84 million are prediabetic. The number of cases of Type 2 diabetes are also rising quite dramatically in Canada. About 60,000 new cases are reported each year, claims the Public Health Agency of Canada.

“In order for pre-diabetic older adults to recover metabolic health and prevent further declines from periods of inactivity, strategies such as active rehabilitation, dietary changes and perhaps medication might be useful,” added McGlory.

By Purnima

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