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A study recently publishing in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that by increasing physical activity, women can lower the risk of gestational diabetes leading to type 2 diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is commonly known as a complication of pregnancy, according to Medical News Today. One-third of the women that are of reproductive age with type 2 diabetes also suffered from gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
Reuters reports that the study found that women who had gestational diabetes when pregnant, but upped their exercise to around 20 minutes a day after giving birth, reduced their risk by half of developing long term diabetes.
Researchers found that with every increase of 100 minutes per week of moderate exercise, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is lowered by 9 percent. Those who participated in the weekly recommended 150 minutes per week had a 47 percent lower risk.
Activities like watching TV, or more so the sedentary lifestyle it implies, raises the risk for type 2 diabetes. “TV watchers” are assumed to be more likely to stay sedentary and snack more often.
Further studies are needed as most of the women studied were white and living in the U.S. The ultimate goal of these studies is to find out how lifestyle, medicine and genetics all come together and how they influence the risk of gestational diabetes developing into type 2 diabetes.