What Are The Benefits of Regular Exercise?

What are the benefits of regular exercise?

Physical activity has all kinds of benefits, including helping to lower your glucose levels,  promoting weight loss, reducing stress and improving your overall fitness²⁰⁸!

A look at the benefits^209,210of regular physical exercise

It reduces your risk of:

Mortality (death)
Cardiovascular (heart-related) disease
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Certain cancers
Anxiety & depression
Poor blood lipid profile (bad cholesterol)

It improves your:

Glucose levels
Bone health
Cognition (ability to learn and understand)
Quality of life
Physical function

How much exercise is enough?

The Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for adults (aged 18-64 years) recommend  doing a variety of types and intensities of physical activity, including^209,210

Aerobic

150 minutes per week (e.g., 30 minutes, 5x per week) of moderate to vigorous physical activities

Walking
Bicycling
Jogging

Resistance training

Muscle strengthening exercises using major muscle groups (e.g., lifting weights) at least 2x per week

Weight training
Resistance bands
Body-weight exercises

Light physical activities

Several hours each day of light physical activities like standing or slow walking. Guidelines also recommend getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night and limiting sedentary (inactive) time each day to 8 hours or less.

What does intensity look like²¹¹?

Your breathing will tell you how intense an exercise is. With light exercise, you should be able to breathe normally. With moderate exercise, you will breathe more deeply, and with vigorous exercise, you may feel out of breath²¹¹.

Light aerobic exercise:

Slow walking
Golf
Gardening
Dusting
Laundry
Stretching
Yoga

Moderate aerobic exercise:

Brisk walking
Climbing stairs
Mowing the lawn
Swimming
Biking

Vigorous aerobic exercise:

Running
Fast cycling
Hockey
Basketball

Important exercise tips^209,211

Talk to your doctor
This is important, especially if you’ve been inactive for a while. If you have type 1 diabetes, talk to your doctor about reducing the risk of hypoglycemia during and after your workouts.

Wear proper clothing
Make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes that fit properly and your MedicAlert® bracelet or necklace.

Bring glucose
Take a fast-acting carbohydrate with you in case you experience low glucose levels.

Monitor your glucose levels
This is important, especially if you’ve been inactive for a while. If you have type 1 diabetes, talk to your doctor about reducing the risk of hypoglycemia during and after your workouts.

Build up gradually
Vigorous physical activity should only be started after you’ve been physically active for a while  and only once you’ve gotten approval from your doctor.

Seek help if…
You have trouble with exercise, feel a lot of discomfort during exercise (e.g., joint pain,  pain in the chest or arms, lightheadedness, shortness of breath), or if you experience frequent episodes of low glucose.

Keep your sensor in place
For tips on adding extra “stick” to your sensor and ensuring it doesn’t come off during exercise, visit the FreeStyle Libre 2 sensor section of this website.

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