Exercise therapy in type 2 diabetes: is daily exercise required to optimize glycemic control?Diabetes Care 35: 948

OBJECTIVEdGiven the transient nature of exercise-induced improvements in insulin sensi-tivity, it has been speculated that daily exercise is preferred to maximize the benefits of exercise for glycemic control. The current study investigates the impact of daily exercise versus exercise performed every other day on glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSdThirty type 2 diabetic patients (age 60 6 1 years, BMI 30.4 6 0.7 kg/m2, and HbA1c 7.2 6 0.2%) participated in a randomized crossover experiment. Subjects were studied on three occasions for 3 days under strict dietary standard-ization but otherwise free-living conditions. Blood glucose homeostasis was assessed by contin-uous glucose monitoring over 48 h during which subjects performed no exercise (control) or 60 min of cycling exercise (50 % maximal workload capacity) distributed either as a single session performed every other day or as 30 min of exercise performed daily. RESULTSdThe prevalence of hyperglycemia (blood glucose.10 mmol/L) was reduced from 7:406 1:00 h:min per day (326 4 % of the time) to 5:466 0:58 and 5:516 0:47 h:min per day, representing 246 4 and 246 3 % of the time, when exercise was performed either daily or every other day, respectively (P, 0.001 for both treatments). No differences were observed betwee