Do you walk to get exercise, and check your sugars afterwards? A study done in Berlin Germany and reported at the European Association for the study of Diabetes (described in Medscape) shows the way you walk matters. In a study involving a small number of patients, they compared two groups of people with diabetes who walked about 4-5 times per week. The first group walked continuously and the second group varied the intensity of their walking in 3 minute intervals. Compared to the first group, the interval walking group achieved a lower blood sugar, improved insulin sensitivity, and an 8.5 lb weight loss during the study. While a formal study has not been done to show this may be a valuable life style change, you may want to check with your health care provider to see if it is safe and reasonable to vary walking speed in this manner.
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