Can you explain why a study from
The University of Sherbrooke in Canada showed that exercising three
times a week improved insulin sensitivity in younger women but not
in older women? (European Journal of Applied Physiology, October
2005) Insulin sensitivity measures the ability of your cells to
respond to insulin. When cells fail to respond adequately to
insulin, blood sugar levels rise too high, and you are more likely
to suffer diabetes, obesity particularly in the abdomen, high blood
pressure, heart attacks, strokes and nerve damage. Inability to
respond to insulin is the most common cause of diabetes in North
America. Exercise helps your cells respond to insulin because
exercise empties muscles of their stored sugar. Empty muscles can
absorb sugar from the bloodstream whenever you eat and prevent blood
sugar levels from rising too high.
Thirty-five percent of adults in
North America will become diabetic because they eat too much and
exercise too little, because being fat fills your fat cells with
fat, which blocks insulin receptors and prevents your body from
responding to insulin. Insulin prevents your blood sugar from rising
too high, particularly after you eat. So when your cells do not
respond adequately to insulin, your pancreas produces very large
amounts of insulin, which constricts coronary arteries to increase
your chances of suffering a heart attack, stimulates your brain to
make you hungry and causes fat to be deposited in your belly.
The only places that you can
store extra sugar in your body are in your liver and muscles. When
you eat, sugar passes from your intestines, into your bloodstream,
and then into your muscles and liver. When your muscles are full of
sugar, sugar can only enter your liver, and your blood levels rise
too high. This causes sugar to stick to cells. Once stuck on a cell,
sugar is converted to sorbitol which damages the cells to cause
blindness, heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and all the other
side effects of diabetes. This study showed that younger women could
exercise intensely enough to empty their muscles on a regimen of
three times a week, but older women could not.
So most older people need to
exercise every day to deplete their muscles of stored sugar. Younger
people can exercise less frequently and to get the same results, as
long as they exercise very vigorously during their three sessions
per week.
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Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio
talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than
40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including
sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and
health reports at
http://www.DrMirkin.com
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