Consistent resistance training, limited sedentary behaviour help lower T2D risk

Engaging in resistance training over midlife and limiting sedentary behaviour have been shown to substantially lower the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a study.

The study included 143,715 healthcare professionals (mean age 56 years, 78.3 percent women) from the Nurses’ Health Study, the Nurses’ Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study who had undergone at least three assessments of resistance training between 40 and 60 years of age.

Time spent in resistance training was assessed every 2 to 4 years and grouped as follows: consistently low, high to low, low to high, fluctuating, and consistently high. The main outcome was incident T2D.

Over a mean follow-up of 19.2 years, a total of 10,038 incident T2D cases were documented across the three cohorts. Compared with no resistance training, engaging in ≥2 h/wk of resistance training was associated with a 27-percent reduction in T2D risk (hazard ratio [HR], 0.73, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.66–0.81).

When compared with consistently low levels of resistance training, consistently high levels of resistance training (≥0.5 h/wk across midlife) was associated with a 42-percent lower T2D risk (HR, 0.58, 95 percent CI, 0.45–0.74), while a low-to-high pattern was associated with a 21-percent risk reduction (HR, 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.66–0.94).

The lowest risk of T2D was observed among participants who met recommendations for both aerobic activity (≥15 total metabolic equivalent h/wk) and resistance training (≥1 h/wk) and limited television viewing (<2 h/d) relative to those who met none of these recommendations (HR, 0.38, 95 percent CI, 0.34–0.42).