2-Minuted HIIT Prevents Diabetes in Middle Aged Adults

Sharon Moore May 27, 2014

Researchers from Abertay University found that high-intensity training (HIT) not only reduces the risk of diabetes, but is also just as effective at doing so as the exercise guidelines currently recommended by the UK Government, which involves carrying out 30 minutes of exercise every week.

A very common reason why most people fail to exercise is ‘lack of time’. In the new study, researchers say HIT is the perfect way for people who are time-poor to improve their health.

The study involved overweight adults at risk of developing diabetes who took part in a HIT regime for a period of eight weeks. The training involved completing twice-weekly sprints on an exercise bike, with each sprint lasting just six seconds.

10 sprints were completed in total during each session, amounting to just two minutes of exercise per week.

Researchers concluded that short, but high-intensity, regime was enough to significantly improve cardiovascular health and insulin sensitivity - the body’s ability to clear glucose from the bloodstream - in the participants, and is the first time that so little exercise has been shown to have such significant health benefits.

In a previous study carried out by the same researchers, three HIT sessions a week were required, but this study has eclipsed these results by showing that the same can be achieved with just two.

"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.” said lead author Dr John Babraj.

"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. And you don’t have to be able to go at the speed of Usain Bolt when you’re sprinting. As long as you are putting your maximal effort into the sprints, it will improve your health.”

Quick and effective

Babraj said the beauty of high-intensity interval training is that it is quick to do and effective. "Although it is well-established that exercise is a powerful therapy for the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes, only 40 per cent of men and 28 per cent of women in the UK achieve the recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on five days of the week.”

"Lack of time to exercise, due to work or family commitments, is cited as the most common barrier to participation, so high-intensity training offers a really effective solution to this problem and has the added benefit of reducing disease risk which activities such as walking – even if done five days a week for 30 minutes - don’t offer.

"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."

Source of this article:

High Intensity Training Improves Health and Physical Function in Middle Aged Adults