如何保持健康的血糖水平?

Doctors are always telling us to go for a walk — for our mental health, our hearts, our joints, our brains, our sleep, and more. But what about our blood sugar?

医生总是告诉我们去散步——为了我们的精神健康、心脏、关节、大脑、睡眠等等。但是我们的血糖呢?

It's important to maintain healthy levels of blood sugar, or blood glucose (via WebMD). When we eat foods that contain carbohydrates, like potatoes, bread, fruit, and pasta, glucose is released during digestion. It enters the bloodstream and then the pancreas creates insulin, a hormone designed to help the blood glucose penetrate the cells. Once it enters the cells, glucose is used by the body for fuel, and whatever isn't used is stored in the liver for later. Blood sugar is important for brain functioning – if we didn't have enough blood sugar, our brains wouldn't be able to work.

保持健康的血糖水平非常重要。当我们吃含有碳水化合物的食物时，如土豆、面包、水果和意大利面，葡萄糖会在消化过程中释放出来。它进入血液，然后胰腺产生胰岛素，一种帮助血糖进入细胞的激素。一旦葡萄糖进入细胞，它就被身体用作燃料，剩下没有被使用的都被储存在肝脏中以备后用。血糖对大脑功能很重要——如果我们没有足够的血糖，我们的大脑就无法工作。

Those with high blood sugar may not have enough insulin to let it into the cells and out of the bloodstream, or they have enough, but the cells aren't responding to it. For those with diabetes, blood sugar builds up in the bloodstream and potentially causes long-term damage, increasing the risk for heart disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, nerve damage, and eye disease.

那些高血糖的人可能没有足够的胰岛素让它进入细胞或离开血液，或者他们有足够的胰岛素，但细胞对它没有反应。对于糖尿病患者来说，血糖在血液中积累，可能会造成长期损害，增加心脏病、心脏病发作、中风、肾病、神经损伤和眼病的风险。

How can you maintain healthy blood sugar levels?

如何保持健康的血糖水平?

A healthy diet, regular exercise, and medication can help keep your blood sugar levels in your target range, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And even something as simple as a daily walk can help.

据美国疾病控制与预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)称，健康的饮食、定期锻炼和药物可以帮助你将血糖水平保持在目标范围内。甚至像每天散步这样简单的事情也会有帮助。

According to the American Diabetes Association, exercise can help lower blood sugar by making the body more sensitive to insulin, which allows the muscles to use available insulin more readily and allows access to more glucose for energy. Muscle contractions during exercise also allow blood glucose to enter the cells whether or not insulin is available. Physical activity can even lower blood sugar levels for a full 24 hours or more after exercising.

根据美国糖尿病协会的说法，运动可以通过使身体对胰岛素更敏感来帮助降低血糖，从而使肌肉更容易使用可用的胰岛素，并使更多的葡萄糖作为能量。运动过程中的肌肉收缩也允许血糖进入细胞，不管是否有胰岛素可用。运动后的24小时或更长时间内，体育活动甚至可以降低血糖水平。

Research shows that in adults aged 60 or older who were inactive and at risk for glucose intolerance, 15-minute walks after each of their three meals per day helped them experience better glycemic control (via American Diabetes Association's Diabetes Care). Surprisingly, these intermittent walks proved to work better for managing blood sugar than one longer walk per day. But according to WebMD, just one 30-minute walk five times per week is enough to prevent diabetes in those who have prediabetes.

研究表明，在60岁或60岁以上不运动且有葡萄糖耐受不良风险的成年人中，每天三餐后15分钟的步行有助于他们更好地控制血糖(通过美国糖尿病协会的糖尿病护理)。令人惊讶的是，这些间歇性散步被证明比每天长时间散步更有利于控制血糖。但是根据WebMD的研究，对于那些患有前驱糖尿病的人来说，每周5次30分钟的步行就足够预防糖尿病了。