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The Value of General Daily Activity

In addition to “exercise”, a physical activity prescription should include recommendations for increasing overall activity and calorie burning throughout the day.  A single 30-minute daily exercise session is unlikely to help people with diabetes to reach their health goals if they are inactive the other 23 ½ hours of the day.

 

üBurns Calories
üMaintains Functional Capacity
üRaises Metabolism
üInstills an “Attitude”

Increasing walking more is a good way to improve one’s functional capacity, burn calories, and reduce the need for insulin and diabetes medications.

 

For example, encourage patients to walk while on the phone, meeting with friends, shopping and running errands.

 

Many people find pedometers to be a useful tool for tracking daily steps.  Research has shown that accumulating 8000-10,000 steps daily corresponds with weight maintenance.  More than 10,000 steps usually leads to weight loss, while less than 8000 often leads to weight gain.  Simply wearing a pedometer and tracking one’s daily steps is enough to motivate many people to increase their daily activity.

Ideas for Increasing Walking
Walk while talking on phone
When meeting with friends,
walk rather than sitting
Take 1-2 flights of stairs
instead of elevators
and escalators
Walk (rather than drive)
to errands near home
 

Walk on moving walkways rather than standing

Search out the furthest parking spots

Go down every aisle in grocery stores

Get a dog and walk him two or three times
a day

Walk slowly on a treadmill while watching TV

 

Besides walking, there are many ways to increase caloric expenditure throughout the day.  For example,

Do your own gardening and yard work

Do your own house work

Go out on “active” dates: dancing, bowling, skating, mini golf

Ride a bike to complete local errands

 

Other ideas for increasing energy expenditure

Hide the remote!  Change channels manually

Take up carpentry or sculpting

Practice yoga, Pilates or Tai-Chi

Take dance lessons

 

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