A study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology shows that high-intensity physical activity may improve cardiac function in patients with diabetes. The researchers compared the impacts of high intensity burst and sustained exercises on several factors that are related to heart disease, such as BMI, exercise adherence, cardiopulmonary fitness, blood sugar levels and lipid profiles.

Data was collected from a local diabetes rehabilitation center in Canada. 76 newly diagnosed patients were randomized into a control group and an intervention group. The control group was required to do 30 minutes of sustained physical activity at 60% age-predicted target heart rate, while the intervention group was required to a high-intensity burst exercise, which involved 3 periods of 10 minutes at 85% of target heart rate. The average age of patients was 65 years old with an average BMI of 31 kg/m2.

Results showed burst exercise patients had greater improvement in HbA1c, lipid profiles, BMI and cardiopulmonary fitness . However, the sample size of this study was relatively small, and the duration of intervention was only 3 months. In the future, more researches should involve larger and more diverse populations.

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