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Responses to continuous and intermittent exercise in healthy and insulin-dependent diabetic children
Insights
Continuous and intermittent exercise similarly affect healthy children. For children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), both exercise types cause a drop in blood glucose levels without significant hormonal changes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Exercise Physiology
- Metabolic Disorders
Background:
- Understanding the physiological impact of different exercise types is crucial for managing chronic conditions.
- Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) requires careful monitoring of metabolic and hormonal responses during physical activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the hormonal and metabolic effects of continuous versus intermittent exercise in children with IDDM and healthy controls.
- To investigate exercise-induced changes in growth hormone, glucagon, cortisol, glucose, and ketone bodies.
Main Methods:
- Five male children with IDDM and five healthy male children participated in the study.
- Subjects underwent both 30-minute continuous and 30-minute intermittent exercise protocols.
- Hormonal and metabolic markers were measured throughout the exercise sessions.
Main Results:
- Healthy children showed stable glucose, glucagon, cortisol, and ketone bodies, with a rise in growth hormone during both exercise types.
- IDDM subjects experienced significant reductions in plasma glucose (99 mg% continuous, 84 mg% intermittent).
- IDDM subjects exhibited elevated cortisol and ketone bodies compared to healthy controls, irrespective of exercise type; no significant hormonal differences were found between exercise types in IDDM subjects.
Conclusions:
- In healthy children, continuous and intermittent exercise elicit similar hormonal and metabolic responses.
- In IDDM subjects, both continuous and intermittent exercise are associated with decreased plasma glucose levels.
- Exercise management in IDDM should consider the potential for hypoglycemia, with no clear preference between continuous or intermittent protocols based on these hormonal and metabolic findings.
Abstract:
The hormonal (growth hormone, glucagon, cortisol) and metabolic (glucose, ketone bodies) responses to 30 min of continuous vs 30 min of intermittent exercise were evaluated in five male children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and five healthy male children. Each subject performed both types of exercise. In the healthy children, growth hormone levels rose, and glucose, glucagon, cortisol, and ketone bodies remained unchanged during both continuous and intermittent exercise. In the IDDM subjects, the mean reductions in glucose concentration were 99 mg% and 84 mg% during continuous and intermittent exercise, respectively. The levels of cortisol and ketone bodies in the IDDM subjects were significantly (P less than 0.05) elevated above the values obtained in the healthy subjects irrespective of the type of exercise. The mean concentrations of growth hormone, glucagon, cortisol, and ketone bodies were not significantly different between continuous and intermittent exercise. The study concludes that in healthy children the hormonal and metabolic responses to a continuous and an intermittent exercise protocol are similar. In the IDDM subjects, however, both forms of physical activity are associated with a decline in plasma glucose and no significant differences in hormonal and metabolic responses.