78 minutes of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts as effective as 210 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.
Researchers are exploring the connection between type 2 diabetes and long COVID.
30 per cent of surveyed people with type 2 diabetes developed symptoms of long COVID. Researchers are now trying to understand why and how exercise can be integrated into their lives.
Accredited Exercise Physiologist and University of Newcastle and HMRI Active Living and Learning researcher, Dr Emily Cox, has just published her team’s findings on the benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for type 2 diabetes management.
Dr Cox says, “The guidelines say people with type 2 diabetes should do 210 minutes of exercise per week but our study, published this month, has found that doing one-third of that time, but at a high intensity, shows similar improvements in health outcomes.”
“If you’re happy to work harder, you could do four minutes of walking or running at a high intensity and eight minutes of strength exercises per day, at an 8 out of 10 effort, for similar benefits as those outlined in the type 2 diabetes exercise guidelines,” says Dr Cox.
Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Active Living and Learning Researcher, Dr Emily Cox
The high-intensity interval training study, published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine followed on from another published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology showing HIIT and guidelines provided similar improvements for cardiovascular health.
The next stage of Dr Cox’s work is exploring the impacts of long COVID on people with type 2 diabetes.
She says, “We conducted a survey of over 1,000 Australians with type 2 diabetes and these results showed that 30 per cent have long COVID symptoms and this is significantly impacting exercise participation. These findings were published in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes.”
This has led to the formulation of two research studies.
The first one, titled ‘Enhancing Exercise Prescription for Type 2 Diabetes Management for Adults with Long COVID‘ has been funded by Diabetes Australia.
Dr Cox says, “This project aims to enhance the prescription and delivery of exercise to people with type 2 diabetes and long-COVID symptoms (e.g., breathlessness, fatigue) to allow return to, or uptake, regular exercise. Mirroring the structure of the current Medicare-subsidised type 2 diabetes group exercise scheme, we will compare the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a long COVID symptom-guided exercise program with usual care after eight weeks.”
The second piece of work is a cross-sectional study comparing people with long COVID and type 2 diabetes to people with type 2 diabetes who have had COVID but made a full recovery.
Dr Cox says, “The aim of this study is to understand what is ‘normal’ in people with type 2 diabetes, and then compare this information with that of people with type 2 diabetes AND long COVID, to better understand the changes that occur in the presence of this additional condition.
“Participants will attend a one-off assessment at the Hunter Medical Research Institute to undergo basic health and fitness testing including, body composition, blood sugar, exercise capacity, functional strength, lung function and questionnaires. They will also wear a continuous glucose monitor and activity monitor for two weeks following the assessment, and get to keep their results, says Dr Cox.
If you have type 2 diabetes and would like to participate in research, you can contact Dr Emily Cox here
