How Often Must I Exercise And What Kind Of Exercise Should I Do To Lower My Risk Of Developing Type 2 Diabetes?

— -- Question: How often must I exercise and what kind of exercise should I do to lower my risk of developing type 2 diabetes?

Answer: So the question about exercise and diabetes prevention is both simple and complicated.

The 'simple' is that the more you do, the more often you do it, and the more you enjoy doing it, the more benefit it's likely to give to you. The 'complex' is that ideally it has a combination of aerobic component -- something on a bike, or running, or walking -- and a muscle strengthening component and a balance component, because all those together help keep you injury-free and help keep your body toned. And one of the mistakes people make in exercise is to be too aggressive too fast, too focused on one activity, and then they develop the injury which then sets them back.

So for exercise, I ask my patients: at least once, see if they can talk with an exercise professional to set up a program for them that combines all the components -- again, something aerobic, muscle strengthening, balance, and what's called 'core training,' which is part of all that.

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