Healthy You on Diabetes: Why Exercise with Your Children?

If you or another close family member has type 2 diabetes, your children are at higher risk of developing diabetes, too – especially if they’re overweight. So, what can you do about it? Consider getting the whole family hooked on physical activities you’ll all enjoy to help fight the disease.

“Exercise helps your body use insulin more efficiently and lowers your blood sugar,” says exercise physiologist Jennifer Kornhausl of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

In fact, exercise can lower blood sugar as much as some medications do, and help the medications you take work better, says Kornhausl’s colleague, internist Eric J. Gertner, M.D., M.P.H. “It also makes your bones stronger, improves your sense of well being, lowers your risk of depression and helps prevent heart disease, the leading cause of death among people with diabetes,” he says. “Physical activity leads to many of those great benefits – whether or not you lose weight.”

One of the greatest benefits: “When you exercise with your children, you set a good example and the stage for making exercise a lifelong activity,” says Deborah Feden, C.R.N.P., Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network nurse practitioner and diabetes educator. “That’s important because we’re seeing more obesity and type 2 diabetes among children. You want to gain control of diabetes early - because the younger your child is diagnosed with diabetes, the sooner complications can occur if the disease is uncontrolled.”

How much physical activity do you and your children need? At least 30 minutes a day, for five or six days a week. That means any kind of exercise—walking the dog, washing the car or playing Frisbee. “Fit in the activity whenever you can - even if it’s just 10 minutes before work or school, 10 minutes during the day, 10 minutes after dinner,” Feden says. “Even going for a stroll together is better than sitting.”

The earlier you instill the exercise habit, the better. “It’s best to start exercising with your children when they’re still in elementary school,” Gertner says. “But it’s never too late.”

The benefits of family physical activity reach far beyond the physical. “Children always remember the fun times they’ve spent with parents and grandparents,” says Gertner. “It’s important for families to build lasting, positive memories together.”

Think Outside the House

Not sure what sorts of things you can do with your children and grandchildren? Here are some ideas to get you started.

Hike around beautiful and interesting places: Jim Thorpe, the Fish Hatchery, the Appalachian Trail or Hawk Mountain.
Tour the country – in miles, not reality. Plan to walk from the Lehigh Valley to another state by keeping track of your progress with pedometers. Teach your children about different destinations along the way.
Chase fireflies.
Start a walking school bus. If your school is within 1 or 2 miles of home, walk your children to school, picking up more parents and children along the way.
Play catch.
Throw a Frisbee or play Frisbee golf.
Go roller or ice skating.
Play soccer.
Start a neighborhood parent/child softball, basketball, or football game.
Start a game of kickball or dodge ball.
Take an exercise class together.
Join First Strides if you’re a mom and daughter. First Strides is a walking/running program for beginners. You both will receive mentors. Call 610-402-CARE for details or click here.
Take a dance class together.
Play Kick the Can, Red Rover or 1,2,3 Red Light.
Walk around the Lehigh Valley Zoo (formerly the Trexler Game Preserve).
Go swimming.
Go for a bike ride.
Play a game of tennis.
Play tag.
Ride scooters (the manual kind, of course).
Run bases.
Walk laps around a mall.
Play badminton or volleyball.
Go on a family treasure hunt

Why Exercise with Your Children?

You’ll get the exercise you need and help them lower their risk for diabetes

Think Outside the House