Review

The Role of Exercise in Diabetes

Salwa J. Zahalka¹, Layla A. Abushamat², Rebecca L. Scalzo³, Jane E. B. Reusch⁴

Kenneth R Feingold¹, S. Faisal Ahmed², Bradley Anawalt³, Marc R Blackman⁴, Alison Boyce⁵, George Chrousos⁶, Emiliano Corpas⁷, Wouter W de Herder⁸, Ketan Dhatariya⁹, Kathleen Dungan¹⁰, Johannes Hofland¹¹, Sanjay Kalra¹², Gregory Kaltsas¹³, Nitin Kapoor¹⁴, Christian Koch¹⁵, Peter Kopp¹⁶, Márta Korbonits¹⁷, Christopher S Kovacs¹⁸, Wendy Kuohung¹⁹, Blandine Laferrère²⁰, Miles Levy²¹, Elizabeth A McGee²², Robert McLachlan²³, Radhika Muzumdar²⁴, Jonathan Purnell²⁵, Rodolfo Rey²⁶, Rakesh Sahay²⁷, Amy S Shah²⁸, Frederick Singer²⁹, Mark A Sperling³⁰, Constantine A Stratakis³¹, Dace L Trence³², Don P Wilson³³

, editors.

In: Endotext [Internet]. South Dartmouth (MA): MDText.com, Inc.; 2000.

2025 Jul 6.

Affiliations

¹ Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, Rocky Mountain Regional VA, Aurora, Colorado
² Section of Cardiovascular Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
³ Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, Rocky Mountain Regional VA, Aurora, Colorado, Center for Women’s Health Research, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
⁴ Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, Rocky Mountain Regional VA, Aurora, Colorado, Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO

Book Affiliations

¹ Professor of Medicine Emeritus, University of California, San Francisco, CA
² Developmental Endocrinology Research Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
³ Chief of Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center and Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine, University of Washington
⁴ Sr. Physician Scientist, Washington DC VA Medical Center; Professor of Medicine & Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University; Clinical Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, George Washington University; and Professor of Medicine (Part-time), Johns Hopkins University
⁵ Pediatric Endocrinologist and Associate Research Physician in the Skeletal Diseases and Mineral Homeostasis Section, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health
⁶ Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, "Aghia Sophia" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece
⁷ M.D. Ph.D in Gerontology. Honorary Professor of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid. Consultant in Endocrinology, Hospital HLA Guadalajara (Spain).
⁸ Professor of Endocrine Oncology, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
⁹ Consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and General Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
¹⁰ Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Ohio State University
¹¹ Consultant Endocrinologist, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
¹² Consultant Endocrinologist, Department of Endocrinology, Bharti Hospital, Karnal, India
¹³ Professor of General Medicine-Endocrinology, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
¹⁴ Professor of Endocrinology, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁵ Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee
¹⁶ Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
¹⁷ Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Centre Lead for Endocrinology and Deputy Institute Director, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, England
¹⁸ University Research Professor and Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology and Metabolism), Obstetrics & Gynecology, and BioMedical Sciences, at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
¹⁹ Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at Boston Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston University School of Medicine
²⁰ Professor of Medicine, New York Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
²¹ Consultant endocrinologist at University Hospitals of Leicester and Honorary Associate Professor at Leicester University
²² Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Vermont and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Burlington, Vermont
²³ Director of Clinical Research, Hudson Institute of Medical Research; Consultant Endocrinologist, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
²⁴ Allan L. Drash Endowed Chair, Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Professor of Pediatrics and Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
²⁵ Professor of Medicine, Knight Cardiovascular Institute and the Division of Endocrinology, and Associate Director, Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition and Wellness, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
²⁶ Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas “Dr. César Bergadá” (CEDIE), CONICET-FEI-División de Endocrinología, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD Buenos Aires; and Departamento de Histología, Biología Celular, Embriología y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1121ABG Buenos Aires, Argentina
²⁷ Professor and Head of Department of Endocrinology, Osmania Medical College and Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, India.
²⁸ Professor of Pediatrics, The University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Division of Endocrinology, Cincinnati, OH, USA
²⁹ Director of the Endocrine/Bone Disease Program, Saint Johns Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, CA; Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
³⁰ Professorial Lecturer, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Emeritus Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh.
³¹ CSO, ELPEN, Inc. & Director, Research Institute, Athens, Greece & Senior Investigator, Human Genetics & Precision Medicine, FORTH (ITE), Heraklion, Greece. Emeritus Scientific Director & Senior Investigator, NICHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
³² Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
³³ Endowed Chair, Cardiovascular Health and Risk Prevention, Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX

PMID: 31751111
Bookshelf ID: NBK549946

Free Books & Documents

Review

The Role of Exercise in Diabetes

Salwa J. Zahalka et al.

Free Books & Documents

In: Endotext [Internet]. South Dartmouth (MA): MDText.com, Inc.; 2000.

2025 Jul 6.

Authors

Salwa J. Zahalka¹, Layla A. Abushamat², Rebecca L. Scalzo³, Jane E. B. Reusch⁴

Book Editors

Affiliations

¹ Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, Rocky Mountain Regional VA, Aurora, Colorado
² Section of Cardiovascular Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
³ Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, Rocky Mountain Regional VA, Aurora, Colorado, Center for Women’s Health Research, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
⁴ Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, Rocky Mountain Regional VA, Aurora, Colorado, Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO

Book Affiliations

¹ Professor of Medicine Emeritus, University of California, San Francisco, CA
² Developmental Endocrinology Research Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
³ Chief of Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center and Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine, University of Washington
⁴ Sr. Physician Scientist, Washington DC VA Medical Center; Professor of Medicine & Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University; Clinical Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, George Washington University; and Professor of Medicine (Part-time), Johns Hopkins University
⁵ Pediatric Endocrinologist and Associate Research Physician in the Skeletal Diseases and Mineral Homeostasis Section, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health
⁶ Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, "Aghia Sophia" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece
⁷ M.D. Ph.D in Gerontology. Honorary Professor of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid. Consultant in Endocrinology, Hospital HLA Guadalajara (Spain).
⁸ Professor of Endocrine Oncology, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
⁹ Consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and General Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
¹⁰ Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Ohio State University
¹¹ Consultant Endocrinologist, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
¹² Consultant Endocrinologist, Department of Endocrinology, Bharti Hospital, Karnal, India
¹³ Professor of General Medicine-Endocrinology, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
¹⁴ Professor of Endocrinology, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁵ Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee
¹⁶ Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
¹⁷ Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Centre Lead for Endocrinology and Deputy Institute Director, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, England
¹⁸ University Research Professor and Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology and Metabolism), Obstetrics & Gynecology, and BioMedical Sciences, at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
¹⁹ Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at Boston Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston University School of Medicine
²⁰ Professor of Medicine, New York Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
²¹ Consultant endocrinologist at University Hospitals of Leicester and Honorary Associate Professor at Leicester University
²² Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Vermont and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Burlington, Vermont
²³ Director of Clinical Research, Hudson Institute of Medical Research; Consultant Endocrinologist, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
²⁴ Allan L. Drash Endowed Chair, Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Professor of Pediatrics and Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
²⁵ Professor of Medicine, Knight Cardiovascular Institute and the Division of Endocrinology, and Associate Director, Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition and Wellness, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
²⁶ Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas “Dr. César Bergadá” (CEDIE), CONICET-FEI-División de Endocrinología, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD Buenos Aires; and Departamento de Histología, Biología Celular, Embriología y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1121ABG Buenos Aires, Argentina
²⁷ Professor and Head of Department of Endocrinology, Osmania Medical College and Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, India.
²⁸ Professor of Pediatrics, The University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Division of Endocrinology, Cincinnati, OH, USA
²⁹ Director of the Endocrine/Bone Disease Program, Saint Johns Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, CA; Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
³⁰ Professorial Lecturer, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Emeritus Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh.
³¹ CSO, ELPEN, Inc. & Director, Research Institute, Athens, Greece & Senior Investigator, Human Genetics & Precision Medicine, FORTH (ITE), Heraklion, Greece. Emeritus Scientific Director & Senior Investigator, NICHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
³² Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
³³ Endowed Chair, Cardiovascular Health and Risk Prevention, Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX

PMID: 31751111
Bookshelf ID: NBK549946

Excerpt

Exercise is a key component to lifestyle therapy for prevention and treatment of diabetes. These recommendations are based on positive associations between physical activity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) prevention, treatment, and disease-associated morbidity and mortality. For type 1 diabetes (T1D), there is evidence to support that exercise can reduce diabetes-associated complications. However, there are physiological and behavioral barriers to exercise that people with both T2D and T1D must overcome to achieve these benefits. Physiological barriers include diabetes-mediated impairment in functional exercise capacity, increased rates of perceived exertion at lower workloads, and decision-making regarding glycemic management. There are additional social and psychological stressors, including depression and reduced self-efficacy. Interestingly, there is variability in the response to exercise by sex, genetics, and environment, further complicating the expectations for individual benefit from physical activity. Defining the optimal dose, duration, timing, and type of exercise remains uncertain for achieving individual health benefits from physical activity. In this chapter, we will discuss the preventative value of exercise for T2D development, the therapeutic impact of exercise on diabetes metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes, the barriers to exercise, including hypoglycemia, and the impact of sex and gender on cardiorespiratory fitness and adaptive training response in people with and without diabetes. There are still many unknowns regarding the diabetes-mediated impairment in cardiorespiratory fitness, the variability and individual response to exercise training, and the impact of sex and gender. However, there is no debate that exercise provides a health benefit for people with and at risk for diabetes. For complete coverage of all related areas of Endocrinology, please visit our on-line FREE web-text, WWW.ENDOTEXT.ORG.

PubMed Disclaimer

Sections

References

1. American Diabetes Association. Facilitating Positive Health Behaviors and Well-being to Improve Health Outcomes: Standards of Care in Diabetes—2025. Diabetes Care 2025;48(Supplement_1):S86–S127. - PMC - PubMed
1. Piercy KL, Troiano RP. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans From the US Department of Health and Human Services. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2018;11(11):e005263. - PubMed
1. Committee PAGA. 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2018.
1. Sundquist K, Qvist J, Sundquist J, Johansson SE. Frequent and occasional physical activity in the elderly: a 12-year follow-up study of mortality. Am J Prev Med. 2004;27(1):22-27. - PubMed
1. Morrish NJ, Wang SL, Stevens LK, Fuller JH, Keen H. Mortality and causes of death in the WHO Multinational Study of Vascular Disease in Diabetes. Diabetologia. 2001;44 Suppl 2:S14-21. - PubMed

Publication types

Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Endotext
- NCBI Bookshelf

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

The Role of Exercise in Diabetes

Affiliations

Book Affiliations

The Role of Exercise in Diabetes

Authors

Book Editors

Affiliations

Book Affiliations

Excerpt

Sections

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources