Two Minutes of High Intensity Exercise Help Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

A few minutes of intense physical exercise help prevent type 2 diabetes, a new study claims.

Researchers from Abertay University State found that with just two sessions of high-intensity training (HIT) for a week, people can fight back diabetes.  HIT is one the best suited technique for people who have lack of time to improve their health.

"With this study, we investigated the benefits of high-intensity training (HIT) in a population group known to be at risk of developing diabetes: overweight, middle-aged adults. We found that not only does HIT reduce the risk of them developing the disease, but also that the regime needs to be performed only twice a week in order for them to reap the benefits......," said Dr John Babraj at Abertay University.

The study included a group of overweight adults at high risk of developing diabetes. As a part of the study these adults were made to take part in a HIT regime for eight weeks.  During this they had two weekly sprints on exercise bikes and each sprint lasted for about six seconds.  In each session they completed 10 sprints that accounted for 2 minutes of exercise per week.

The researchers noticed that the short high intensity regime was sufficient to enhance the cardiovascular health and insulin sensitivity. This is the first study to show how little exercise offers significant health benefits.

"There is a clear relationship between the intensity of exercise and the magnitude of health improvement, so it is only through these short, high-intensity sprints that health improvements can be seen," said Dr. Babraj

The finding was documented in the journal Biology.