(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)
If you need more motivation to close your rings, new research from Apple confirms that walking and other forms of exercise can help adults maintain safer levels of glucose in their blood, thereby lowering their risk of negative health effects such as diabetes and heart disease.
Apple partnered with Beyond Type 1, a global nonprofit dedicated to advocating for people with diabetes, to announce the new insights from its Heart and Movement Study and Women's Health Study in time for World Diabetes Day on Tuesday, November 14, which aims to raise awareness of the disease. One of the main takeaways confirmed that an increase in activity and steps on a given day strongly correlated with blood glucose levels in the target range a greater percentage of the time.
(Credit: Apple)Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health led the study, which measured the effects of physical activity and the menstrual cycle on glucose. Participants who shared at least 100 days of continuous glucose monitor (CGM) data through the Apple Health app were included in the analysis, regardless of whether they reported having diabetes. For the activity analysis, the sample included 1,387 participants who provided CGM data plus at least 50 days of data on exercise minutes and step counts from the Apple Watch.
"As participants increased either the average duration of exercise or the average number of steps taken on a given day, we see a corresponding increase in the average percentage of time glucose fell within the target range of 70-180 mg/dL," the researchers wrote.
Participants who exercised for less than 15 minutes spent about 67% of the day in the target glucose range, the researchers found. Time in the target range increased to 70.5% of the day with 15 to 30 minutes of exercise, and 78.8% of the day with more than 30 minutes of exercise.
(Credit: Apple)"These data demonstrate that exercising at the right levels can improve how each of us deal with metabolic challenges to reduce the risk of diabetes or to improve the control of diabetes if it does develop," said Calum MacRae, principal investigator of the Apple Heart and Movement Study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Meanwhile, preliminary findings from the Apple Women’s Health Study show the effect of different stages of the menstrual cycle on blood glucose levels. The researchers observed a slight increase in the amount of time spent with the target glucose range during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, which occurs on the first day of your period and is characterized by an increase in estrogen and a decrease in progesterone.
"This preliminary analysis may pave the way for a more in-depth examination of the relationship between menstrual cycle phases and glucose levels, offering potential implications for diabetes management," said Shruthi Mahalingaiah, co-principal investigator of the Apple Women’s Health Study.