Diabetes and our future

Our children have a target on their back, and we put it there! In 1992, it was rare for most pediatric centers to have patients with type 2 diabetes. By 1994, type 2 diabetes accounted for up to 16% of new cases of pediatric diabetes in urban areas, and by 1999, it accounted for 8–45% of new cases depending on geographic location.

Type II diabetes used to be called “adult onset” diabetes, because children rarely got it. Because of our sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, our children are now dealing with an affliction that used to target older Americans.

Unfortunately we, as adults, have become a model for our kids. The Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index finds the reported incidence of diabetes on the rise in the United States, climbing to 11.3% of American adults -- or about 26 million Americans -- in the third quarter of 2009, up from 10.4% in the first quarter of 2008.

The US has extraordinarily high medical costs compared to the rest of the world, we spend about twice per capita that most countries in western Europe. Medical expenses for diabetics are, on average, approximately 2.3 times higher than for those people who do not have diabetes, with approximately 10% of healthcare dollars spent on the condition and its complications. If current trends continue, 15% of American adults -- or more than 37 million Americans -- will be living with diabetes by the end of 2015. The growing diabetes epidemic and the unfortunate rise in the cost of diabetes is placing an increasing burden on our healthcare funds, which is already facing the strain from costs associated with the advancing age of the baby boomer generation.

The stakes are high and getting higher. The number of people with diabetes has increased 13.5 percent since 2005. At the current rate, 1 of every 3 people born in 2000 will develop the disease, putting them at higher risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve damage, among other medical problems.

If you have diabetes, you need to do what your body is meant to do: move! You also need to take a hard look at your diet. Exercise plays a vital role in controlling your blood sugar levels. It doesn't matter how long you've been sitting there doing nothing -- it's time to get up and move!

An exercise program requires a positive state of mind, it has to and can be fun. You can't view it as something that is strenuous or tedious or being forced to do. Exercise, in its various forms, can be quite enjoyable. When you rode your bike as a kid or climbed a tree, was it tedious or torturous?

The latest findings show that exercise such as strength training has a profound impact on helping people manage their diabetes. In a recent study of Hispanic men and women, 16 weeks of strength training produced dramatic improvements in sugar control that are comparable to taking diabetes medication. Additionally, the study volunteers were stronger, gained muscle, lost body fat, had less depression, and felt much more self-confident.

Another exercise modality is aerobic exercise. Any activity that raises your heart rate and keeps it up for an extended period of time will improve your aerobic fitness. Aerobic exercise helps decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes and helps those with diabetes to better manage their blood sugar levels. Besides the health benefits, exercise is fun and boosts your mood. It's hard to feel stressed when you're walking fast on a treadmill, riding a bike or swimming laps in a pool.

Exercise helps control type 2 diabetes by:
Improving your body's use of insulin.
Burning excess body fat, helping to decrease and control weight.
Improving muscle strength.
Increasing bone density and strength.
Lowering blood pressure.
Helping to protect against heart and blood vessel disease.
Increasing energy level and enhancing work capacity.
Reducing stress, promoting relaxation, and releasing tension and anxiety.

We, as personal trainers, can give you the support and guidance that you need to start and maintain an exercise program. The key to our health is oftentimes in our own hands. We can use this key to unlock the door to a future of well being, or not. It’s up to you, for your own health as well as the health of our children.

Exercise and Breast Cancer

In the US, around 40,000 women are dying each year from breast cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The greatest risk factor for developing breast cancer is gender (female) and the second is age. Between 2000-2004, 95 percent of new cases and 97 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women aged 40 and older. Like most cancers, the causes are uncertain. While no one knows with any certainty how to prevent the occurnce of breast cancer, we do have control over many aspects of our lives that can protect our health and also enhance our recovery, Regardless of our genetic make-up, there are a number of things that we, as women, can do to protect ourselves. Mamograms and self-examinations are critical to our health, as well as our lifestyle choices, such as exercise and diet.

So what can we do if are diagnosed with breast cancer and undergo treatment and therapy? Fitness Together in Fort Myers has some suggestions.

A daily walk around the block, a few laps in the pool, a vigorous game of soccer: studies are now suggesting that exercise is extending the lives of women who've survived breast cancer, even as it lifts their spirits and increases their sense of well being. Being physically active boosts the odds that breast cancer patients will survive the disease, according to the first study to produce evidence that exercise improves the prospects of beating any malignancy.

The findings, from a large, well-respected study of U.S. nurses, found that breast cancer patients who walk or do other kinds of moderate exercise for three to five hours a week are about 50 percent less likely to die from the disease than sedentary women.

"Women with breast cancer have little to lose and much to gain from exercise," said Michelle D. Holmes of the Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "This is good news for women with breast cancer."

Dealing with any life threatening disease is much more than just therapies and protocols. The diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer can often leave women feeling hopeless and powerless, in addition to the fear associated with any type of cancer. Besides the obvious physical benefits coming from exercise, being active, especially with others, can ease the sense of fear and loneliness that often comes from such a diagnosis. Exercise gives us all the opportunity to view our bodies as a friend instead of a part of our lives that we must “deal” with. Exercise and activity, regardless of one’s condition, increases our general outlook and sense of well-being.

"Exercise empowers these women with a tool that's there at their disposal," said Dr. Cheryl Perkins, senior clinical advisor at the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, one of the nation's largest organizations dedicated to fighting the disease. "The benefit correlated with the amount of exercise. So, the more exercise, the better survival," Perkins said.

"One of the biological theories as to why exercise might be a good tool for reducing risk or in prevention is that it can reduce obesity, and obesity is known to increase circulating estrogen," Perkins said. High levels of circulating estrogen are thought to greatly increase a woman's risk for breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence.

Still, for most breast cancer survivors past the active-treatment stage of their care, "there's no limit as far as the capacity to do vigorous exercise," she said.
Of course, exercise can be a tonic for the mind as well as the body.
"It simply increases your sense of wellness," Perkins explained. "It helps increase your stamina in the long run. It's good on a lot of levels."

Perkins should know, since she's a long-term breast cancer survivor herself. She credits regular exercise with helping her stay fit in her fight against the disease.
We have been honored at Fitness Together to have many breast cancer survivors as clients and to be considered part of their return to a normal and healthy life. All of our programs are tailored to fit the exact needs of our clients, regardless of their condition.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers