Introduction

Current international guidelines recommend a range of 150–300 min per week of moderate physical activity/exercise in adults with type 2 diabetes. However, type 2 diabetic patients, particularly obese women, may fail to adhere to these guidelines because of reduced functional capacity or lack of time due to household responsibilities. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of low-volume, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise of < 150 min/week on average blood glucose in type 2 diabetic women.

Material and methods

Twenty-two obese women with type 2 diabetes were assigned to an exercise group (n1 = 10, age = 41 ±2.92 years, body mass index (BMI) = 35.22 ±2.59 kg/m2) and a control group (n2 = 12, age = 44 ±6.87 years, BMI = 36.75 ±5.69 kg/m2). Patients in both groups received oral antidiabetic medications, and only patients in the exercise group received supervised moderate-intensity treadmill walking at 65–75% of peak heart rate (HRpeak) for 30 minutes/session, 3 days/week, and 8 weeks. A 5–10-min warm-up and a 3–5-min cool-down period of low-intensity walking were combined with the 30-min work phase of the exercise session. A symptom-limited maximal exercise test was performed to determine the HRpeak. Average blood glucose was estimated from glycosylated haemoglobin.

Results

There were statistically significant reductions in estimated average blood glucose levels in the exercise group compared to the baseline (p < 0.001) and to the controls (p = 0.040).

Conclusions

Combined with oral antidiabetic therapy, an 8-week moderate-intensity walking exercise program, with weekly duration lower than that recommended by the international guidelines, could induce significant reductions in blood glucose levels in middle-aged obese women with type 2 diabetes and seems to be a better choice than no exercise at all.