National Runner's Health Study: Part III

Running is a Diabetes Buster

Insulin is a hormone that your body uses to covert sugar and other foods into energy.  Diabetes is a disease in which your body does not properly produce or use insulin, which can result in a dangerously high level of glucose in your blood.  The most common types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which your body fails to produce insulin. Without insulin, glucose cannot enter your cells to provide energy.  Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which your body produces insulin, but you develop an insulin resistance. Your body does not properly use the insulin that is available. Most individuals diagnosed with diabetes today have type 2.

Running will help prevent the development of diabetes and also help manage existing cases. Warburton and associates found that an increase in exercise of just 500 calories per week (about 5 miles of running) will decrease the occurrence of type 2 diabetes. The study also determined physically inactive men with type 2 diabetes were 1.7 times more likely to die prematurely than physically active men with type 2 diabetes.