TO GET the maximum benefits from stretching to minimize the loss of flexibility caused by aging and accelerated by diabetes, include stretching exercises into your new, healthier lifestyle a minimum of two or three days per week. This will also help you maximize your strength gains from any concurrent resistance exercises you may be doing.
Exercising with diabetic or other health limitations
Is your health your main excuse for not being more physically active? Whether your biggest health complaint is high blood pressure, loss of feeling in your feet, or arthritic knees, it’s time to change your way of thinking. There is mounting evidence that older individuals with chronic health problems respond just as well to exercise training as their younger counterparts, yet many older people still choose not to be physically active. While it’s true that 85 percent of people over the age of sixty-five have a health problem that they may view as a deterrent to exercise, diabetes should definitely not be among them, and neither should almost all of the others.
Although most everyone can exercise safely and effectively, diabetes does bring additional risks, as discussed in the preceding step. However, you can still exercise to your potential—as long as you respect your limitations. To stay safe and get the most out of your activities, follow the exercise guidelines published by the ADA. The remainder of this section will address how you can overcome other common health concerns, allowing you to be as physically active as possible.
Diabetic people in supervised cardiac-rehabilitation exercise programs engage in various forms of exercise, and you may choose to join such a program if you know you have cardiovascular disease; you may also prefer to exercise on your own. It’s important to know that you’re more likely to experience angina (chest pain) due to reduced blood flow to your heart muscle (ischemia) during an aerobic activity like treadmill walking than during weight training. Studies have shown that lifting a heavy weight ten to twelve times may increase your blood pressure more than aerobic work, but it doesn’t raise your heart rate as much. Ironically the higher blood pressures reached during resistance training ensure that your heart muscle gets more blood than it would during aerobic activities. If you know that you have some coronary artery blockage from plaque buildup, moderate weight training may actually be a safer activity for you than most high-intensity aerobic ones.
If you prefer aerobic activities or if you do both types, use pain as your guide. In general, if reaching a certain heart rate (in number of beats per minute, or bpm) causes you to develop chest pain during exercise, always exercise at an intensity that keeps your rate at least 10 bpm below that pain threshold. For example, if slow jogging causes you to feel angina at a heart rate of 140 bpm, then lower your exercise intensity by walking briskly instead, to keep your heart rate at 130 bpm or below at all times.
In addition, be aware that a heart attack may have symptoms other than pain localized in your chest, such as pain that radiates down one arm or shoulder or your neck or that feels like bad heartburn. If you experience any unusual pain or other symptoms during or following exercise, get checked out by your doctor as soon as possible. Diabetes can also potentially cause you to experience silent ischemia, a reduction in blood flow to the heart muscle through the coronary blood vessels that is painless and symptom-free. If you experience a sudden, unexplained change in your ability to exercise, without any other symptoms, immediately stop exercising and consult with your physician as soon as you can to rule out silent ischemia.
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