Physical Activity and Blood Sugar Levels in People with Diabetes Mellitus: Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a slowly deadly disease. Indonesia has the 4th highest number of diabetes mellitus after China, India and the United States. People with diabetes have grown from 8.4 million in 2000 and will become 21.3 million in 2030. This study aims to determine the relationship between body movement and blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This type of research is quantitative, with a design analytical research and cross-sectional approach. The sample of this study was 131 people with the criteria for suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus. Data collection used the Global Body Movement Questionnaire (GPAQ) questionnaire, and the statistical test used was the Chi-Square statistical test. The results showed that there was a relationship between physical activity and blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, so it is recommended that DM patients should routinely carry out body movements and control blood sugar levels in health care facilities and take advantage of health services such as health workers if they experience problems in performing body movements and follow a diabetic diet according to the advice of a nutritionist. In-depth conclusions and implications are discussed.