July 27, 2004 VITAL SIGNS Exercise: A Workout Without the Gym By JOHN O'NEIL
Diabetics should not just think about the gym when it comes to protecting their hearts, according to a study from Finland released yesterday. It found that physical activity on the job had as big an effect as leisure-time workouts in reducing deaths from heart disease among patients with Type 2 diabetes.
The study, published in the journal Circulation, drew on data collected from more than 3,000 people with Type 2 diabetes, most of whom were of working age. The information included whether the physical component of their job was light (like an office worker), moderate (like a shop assistant) or active (like a factory or farm worker); whether their commute involved walking or cycling and for how long; and how strenuous or sedentary they were during their leisure time.
In the almost two decades after the participants were surveyed, about 1,400 of them died, two-thirds from heart disease, which poses a bigger threat to diabetics than to the population at large. When the survey data was adjusted to account for factors like age and weight, the researchers found that having an active job or participating in more than three hours a week of a demanding leisure-time activity, like running or swimming, cut the risk of death from heart disease by a third or more.
Perhaps more important, according to the study's lead researcher, Dr. Gang Hu of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, patients who reported even moderate activity in any one of the three categories saw their risk fall significantly. Since more and more jobs are sedentary, Dr. Hu recommended exercising during breaks at work, walking more on the job or walking to work, if possible.
