It also helps to maintain muscle, and improve bone density, flexibility, balance and agility. Regardless of the type of diabetes you have and regardless of your age, regular physical activity is important for your overall health and wellness.

Physical activity recommendations may vary by diabetes as well as your age. If you have type 1 diabetes , it is extremely important to know your blood sugar levels, before, during and after exercise and to make adjustments accordingly.

For people with type 2 diabetes , physical activity helps to decrease insulin resistance, and contributes to improved blood sugar control. There are also so many other additional benefits beyond management of your blood glucose. If you have prediabetes , one way to help reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes is to exercise regularly, along with healthy eating and weight loss.

Children with or without diabetes benefit from exercise. It is recommended that children and youth build up to 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day.

Reducing sedentary behaviour is also an important goal. If you have pre-existing diabetes and become pregnant or have gestational diabetes , exercise can help control your blood glucose levels.

Your healthcare team can help you develop an exercise plan that is appropriate for you and your baby. If you are new to exercise, you likely have a lot of questions about where to start. This may include questions about how much is required, the best timing, true benefits, adjusting medications, and general planning.

How much exercise is needed? Find out what the current recommendations are for physical activity. When is the best time to exercise? The real answer is any time!

Get ideas for how to incorporate exercise into your working day, whether working from home or away. Beyond the health benefits of helping to control blood glucose or improving heart health, there are several other key advantages to maintaining a regular exercise routine.

Since low blood sugar can occur during or after exercise, you may need to adjust your insulin dose based on your activity. Be sure to discuss your exercise plans with your diabetes healthcare team. Extreme weather conditions can have negative effects on the human body. Get heat safety and cold weather exercise tips.

Read more Yale Medicine news. More news from Yale Medicine. Family Health. More News From Yale Medicine. Stationary cycling, weight-bearing strength training, swimming, and other low- to no-impact workouts are gentle ways to ease into exercise.

Gasnick says. Focus on large muscle groups for maximum benefits. When it comes to resistance training, multijoint exercises such as squats, lunges, rows, and chest presses come with the greatest per-rep benefits for both blood sugar management and the progression of related complications, says Occhipinti.

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Type 2 Diabetes. Aleisha Fetters. Medically Reviewed. Sandy Bassin, MD of American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Next up video playing in 10 seconds.

RELATED: What Updated Exercise Guidelines Mean for People With Diabetes And importantly, weekly workouts should include resistance, or strength, training at least two or three days, preferably on nonconsecutive days.

How Exercise Improves Insulin Health Exercise helps manage prediabetes and type 2 diabetes by lowering blood glucose levels and improving insulin sensitivity throughout the body, according to a study. RELATED: The Health Benefits of Strength Training for People With Type 2 Diabetes Improving Weight Loss Losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can improve your A1C, which is the two- to three-month average of your blood sugar levels, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

RELATED: Animal Study Sheds Light on How Strength Training Reduces Insulin Resistance How Exercise Helps Prevent Complications of Type 2 Diabetes Apart from managing blood sugar and insulin levels, exercise functions to slow, stop, and in some cases, even reverse the long-term effects that occur due to the progression of type 2 diabetes.

Here are some of the main ways that physical activity combats insulin resistance-related complications: Improving Vascular Health When you exercise, your muscles release a host of compounds that benefit vascular and circulatory health, Occhipinti says. RELATED: 7 Tips to Help You Stick With Exercise When Managing Diabetes Lowering Inflammation Inflammation throughout the body is believed to be a primary cause of the progression of type 2 diabetes and its related conditions such as arthrosclerosis arterial plaque buildup , cognitive decline , and joint deterioration , according to one article.

RELATED: The 7 Best Low-Impact Exercises for People With Diabetes Restoring Nerve Function In one study , men and women significantly reduced diabetes-related pain and neuropathy in just 10 weeks of exercise.

RELATED: 6 Great Exercises for People Living With Diabetes 6 Tips to Get Started with Exercise 1. RELATED: How a Marathoner With Type 1 Diabetes Uses a CGM to Control Her Blood Sugar 3. RELATED: 8 Ways to Sit Less and Move More Each Day 5.

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking. Resources MacDonald CS, Johansen MY, Nielsen SM, et al. Dose-Response Effects of Exercise on Glucose-Lowering Medications for Type 2 Diabetes: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Mayo Clinic Proceedings. March Long-Term Effects of Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin on Diabetes Development and Microvascular Complications Over Year Follow-Up: The Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study.

November Prediabetes — Your Chance to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 30, Lifestyle Management.

Diabetes Care.