As if we needed another reason to exercise.

Endurance exercise training improves insulin sensitivity and delays the onset of type 2 diabetes through mechanisms which are not fully understood. Despite the importance of endurance exercise training, less than 20% of individuals complete the recommended 150 min of endurance exercise per week, frequently citing a lack of time as a major deterrent. Over the last decade, several studies in humans have found that high-intensity interval training (HIIT), an exercise training program involving brief bouts of intense exercise (90–100% of VO2 max) followed by periods of recovery, can elicit similar metabolic adaptations to classical endurance exercise training but with a much shorter time commitment. Importantly, recent studies have established that HIIT can lower blood glucose and markers of insulin resistance independently of alterations in adiposity/body mass in individuals with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Despite these beneficial metabolic effects, the tissues involved and mechanisms underlying the glucose lowering effects of HIIT have not yet been defined.

Top Reddit comment:

If you are diabetic or nearing it, this article means that this kind of training would be greatly beneficial to you in particular.

Many people internalize type 2 diabetes as having a lack of insulin; I think it better described as having an overabundance of insulin resistance.

Type 1 diabetes is lack of insulin, Type 2 is usually plenty of insulin -- maybe even too much -- but the cells stop responding to it. That's why artificial sweeteners are so insidious: the sweet taste is thought to signal to your body "Hey we are gonna need some insulin soon because we're eating sugar", but then there's no sugar in the bloodstream to take up into the cells.

In terms of HIIT... sorry scientists, but I don't buy the idea that it's going to revolutionize exercise for couch potatoes. Do people have any idea what 90 - 100% of VO2 max means?!?! It's quite unpleasant if you aren't a regular exerciser, and not that easy to achieve at home if you are very fit. Also you have to have a plan for literally every second of your workout. But most importantly I doubt that most people are going to save that much time with HIIT because most of the time spent exercising is actually about preparing to work out, potentially going to a different location, changing clothes, showering, and all of the stuff AROUND working out rather than the actual workout -- and those time costs will probably be higher with HIIT than with lower-intensity exercise. Bottom line: if you can't find time for 5 30-minute walks per week, you're almost certainly not going to solve the problem with HIIT.

Bottom line: Walk at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week.

750+ Reddit comments:

https://reddit.com/r/science/comments/3vjroe/high_intensity_interval_training_improves_liver/

Also:

"We found smoking, high BMI and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to increase the predicted chronological age by 2–6 years, while consumption of fatty fish, drinking moderate amounts of coffee and exercising reduced the predicted age by approximately the same amount."

Source:

https://reddit.com/r/science/comments/3vhz5e/protein_profiling_reveals_consequences_of/