For high blood pressure and diabetes, strength training is better than running.

Which is better if you have to choose only one: aerobic exercise or strength training?

Muscle exercises are said to be more effective for Koreans with high blood pressure or diabetes.

 

Why is that? Reporter Jung Sung-won will explain.

 

 

[Reporter]

This is a park in Seoul.

 

Even when it rains intermittently, elderly people who walk for health management stand out.

 

Yeom Jang-sun / Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Here, walking 5 or 7 laps helps me sleep better and makes my body feel a bit lighter. That's why I always come whenever I have free time.

 

Bang Gi-cheon / Gwanak-gu, Seoul

It seems to be somewhat effective when I have back pain or a stiff lower back during walking.

 

Research has shown that anaerobic exercise, or strength training, reduces the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes more than running or walking.

 

Until now, aerobic exercise has been emphasized mainly, but the importance of anaerobic exercise has been proven.

 

 

Professor Lee Ji-won and the research team at Severance Hospital studied the effects of anaerobic and aerobic exercise on approximately 14,000 adults and over 1,200 adolescents in relation to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

 

As a result, the risk of developing hypertension and diabetes was lowest in the group that combined aerobic and anaerobic exercise, followed by the group that only did anaerobic exercise, and then the group that only did aerobic exercise.

 

Specifically, the group that only did anaerobic exercise had a waist circumference 2.1 cm smaller than the group that only did aerobic exercise.

 

Blood pressure and cholesterol levels also came out lower.

 

Insulin function that breaks down sugar was also better in the anaerobic-only group, and the likelihood of developing hypertension, diabetes, and other conditions was lower in the anaerobic exercise group.

 

The researchers explained that since the study was conducted exclusively on Koreans, it may reflect the characteristics of Asians, who tend to have lower muscle mass and higher insulin resistance.

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For someone like me who has prehypertension and prediabetes.

It's an important small thing.

The doctor asked what kind of exercise I do during the health check-up.

You asked, so I said I would walk and do stretching.

I gave it to you, but you also need to do strength training, so make sure to do it.

You did it, and the research results have been confirmed.

It seems I should focus more on strength training during stretching.