If you have type 2 diabetes, exercise can help you live longer. Previous research has shown that people with type 2 diabetes have an overall lower risk of dying prematurely-particularly from cardiovascular disease-if they exercise regularly. Researchers in Finland have now shown that even risk factors such as smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure do not diminish the protective effect of exercise.
The study, which took place from 1972 to 1997, used a group of people selected from six different health surveys. Study participants had type 2 diabetes, and they ranged in age from 25 to 74 years old. People who had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, stroke, or heart failure before the start of the study were excluded.
Before entering the study, each of the 3,708 participants' blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and cholesterol levels were measured and recorded by research nurses at regional study sites. Study members also answered survey questions about their smoking history and daily levels of physical activity.
Researchers grouped participants by levels of physical activity-low, moderate, and high. These levels were determined by assessing how physically active participants were in three areas: at work, while commuting, and in their leisure time.
Low" participants engaged in very little activity in all areas. "Moderate" participants engaged in only one area of moderate to high activity, such as bicycling to work, but were otherwise sedentary. "High" participants reported two or three areas of moderate to high activity, such as manual labor and more than 3 hours per week of vigorous exercise.
The study members were observed until 2001-an average of 18.7 years. During that time, 1,423 people died-906 from cardiovascular disease. When compared with participants in the mostly sedentary "low" group, people who engaged in moderate levels of activity were 40 to 41 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or other causes. Participants with high levels of activity were 51 percent less likely than those in the low group to die from cardiovascular disease or other causes.
