Diabetes is one the commonest disorders. It is a condition whereby the body fails to produce sufficient and or fails to respond appropriately to insulin. Insulin is the hormone that is generated in the pancreas whose purpose is to facilitate the absorption of glucose by the body cells for its subsequent conversion into energy.
Consequently, diabetes is alternatively defined as “a defect in the body’s ability to convert glucose (sugar) to energy” (Wild et al., 2004, p.1048). Essentially, there are three types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation, 90 percent of the cases of diabetes often involve diabetes type 2 (2011, Para.2).
With this prevalence of this type of diabetes, incredible researches have been done on the effective ways of managing diabetes type 2. Exercise is one of the ways of managing type 2 diabetes. Indeed, there is an enormous body of research about the implication of exercise in managing diabetes type 2.
With regard to Jelalian et al. (2010), increased physical activity through exercise is an incredible mechanism of maintaining people’s body healthy (p.23). In this perspective, it is arguable that exercise can incredibly help to check on a person’s blood sugar levels. The whole society needs to appreciate the significance of exercise in facilitating the existence of a healthy human population.
Consequently, as Diabetes and Physical Activity (2012) informs, among persons afflicted by diabetes type 2, exercise has become one of the dominant topics (p.129). However, the control of diabetes requires not only exercise but also a proper diet (Harwell et al., 2011, p.127).
The role of exercising in the control of diabetes is particularly critical by noting that diabetes has been associated with overweight and obesity. Therefore, as people exercise to shed off excessive weight, chances are that they will also reduce the level of complications associated with diabetes type 2 (Wild et al., 2004, p.1049).
Since obesity is one of the risk factors for diabetes, advocating for exercise among adolescents at an early age amounts to a crucial attempt to curtail the complication of diabetes. Jelalian et al. (2010) reinforce this argument by further lamenting that initiating strategies to help the society reduce weight can enormously aid in defeating diabetes type 2 (p.128).
Nevertheless, with regard to Diabetes and Physical Activity (2012), weight treatment needs to be done consistently by advocating for good dietary habits, physical activity, and exercise (p.131). While weight treatment is done in such a regulated environment, chances of having people possessing the capacity to maintain diabetes type 2 under control increase in multifold (Harwell et al., 2011, p.129).
This paper proposes a research on the role of exercise among people afflicted by diabetes type 2 in managing their blood sugar levels. However, in addition to this endeavor, the proposed research hypothesizes that a cute management of blood sugar levels through exercise correlates with the management of other diabetes type 2 risk factors such as obesity.
The research design that will be used in the research will entail seeking to get data of patients afflicted by diabetes type 2 from healthcare facilities. In the proposed research, there are two measurable dependent variables (DVs). These are weight and blood sugars levels. The independent variable (IV) denotes the number of times that a patient turns up for exercises, for instance, in healthcare gymnasium facilities.
Dependent Variable
Under the IV, the behavior that will be measured is the response of the participant to blood sugar levels while engaging in physical activities through exercise. To come up with adequate information for drawing conclusions, this behavior will be measured for a month within an interval of three days. The data will then be entered in a spreadsheet for subsequent analysis.
Independent Variable
To determine the actual response of participants when subjected to physical activities, it will be important to have control groups and some means of manipulating some variables as instructed by health care professionals. The controlled variable will be the time of exposure to physical activities. It will be uniform for all participants. On the hand, people have differing body weights both in overweight and underweight conditions.
Thus, in the research, the reduction of weight on exposure to physical activities will be computed based on the percentage of the reduction margin to the original body weight. Participants will be required to precisely follow the research schedules particularly on the days of reporting for their physical exercise sessions. This will make the results obtained consistent and more accurate.
Another critical instruction for the participants to subscribe is the appropriate dietary guidelines as given by their health care professionals so that, between the intervals for the different physical exercise sessions, a participant will not build on weight.
What will be desired will be a continuous trend in weight reduction so that a relationship can be established on the corresponding blood sugar levels.
Method
In a bid to garner data from the selected health facilities, the chosen healthcare facilities will be required to have a diabetes intervention program through physical activities besides supporting facilities such as gymnasium. The data will then be used to randomly select a sample from which the measurements on the impacts of physical activities on blood sugar level will be measured.
The sample size will be selected such that it captures characteristics such as age and gender. This will help in giving a more general impact of physical activity on blood sugar levels among persons afflicted by diabetes type 2.
Participants
The participants will also be patients at the health care facilities that will be selected. Consequently, for them to precisely follow the instructions, it will be vital for the researcher to administer the instructions through the health care professionals attending the patients.
Materials
In the measurement of the variables, measurement instruments will be required. These will include instruments for measuring blood sugar levels, time, and weight. Apparently, in health care facilities, all these instruments are readily available. Hence, neither additional material nor special supplies are required.
Projected Results
The projected results for the study are that the number of times that the participants turn out for the physical activity interventions directly relates to their magnitudes of weight reduction and management of their blood sugar levels so that it fluctuates within narrower ranges in comparisons to persons who do not attend such intervention programs. For the conclusions to be made based on research with great precision, it is desirable to maintain the confidence levels at 0.95.
Implications
Although it is not true to presume that obese people are diabetic, statistics on the diabetic obese people among the participant will be inferential in seeking to determine the correlation between overweight and blood sugar levels among the sample of diabetic participants selected while subjected to physical activities.
Therefore, if the results confirm the hypothesis, the implication will be that it is necessary for programs seeking to manage diabetes type 2 through increased physical activities among the patients to concentrate on incorporating mechanisms that will enhance the reduction of body weight among the diabetic persons.
Reference List
Diabetes and Physical Activity. (2012). The Diabetes Educator. London: Routledge.
Harwell, S., Vanderwood, K., Hall, O., Butcher, K., & Helgerson, D. (2001). Factors associated with achieving a weight loss goal among participants in an adapted Diabetes prevention program. Primary Care Diabetes, 5(2), 125-129.
International Diabetes Federation. (2011). Types of diabetes. Web.
Jelalian, E., Lloyd-Richardson, E., Mehlenbeck, S., Hart, C., Flynn-O’Brien, K., Kaplan, J. & Wing, R. (2010). Behavioral Weight control treatment with supervised exercise or Peer-enhanced adventure for overweight adolescents. The Journal of Pediatrics, 156(6), 923-928.
Wild, S., Roglic, G., Green, A., Sicree, R., King, H. (2004). Global prevalence of diabetes: Estimates for the year 2000 and projections for 2030. Diabetes Care, 27(5), 1047–1053.