Soccer training improves heart function, reduces blood pressure and elevates exercise capacity in men with type 2 diabetes, scientists have found.
Researchers from the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark found that soccer training also reduces the need for medication.
The study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, investigated the effects of soccer training, consisting of small-sided games on 21 men with type 2 diabetes, aged 37 to 60 years.
"We discovered that soccer training significantly improved the flexibility of the heart and furthermore, that the cardiac muscle tissue was able to work 29 per cent faster," said Medical Doctor, Jakob Friis Schmidt, who co-authored the study with student, Thomas Rostgaard Andersen.
"This means that after three months of training, the heart had become 10 years 'younger'," Schmidt said.
"Many type 2 diabetes patients have less flexible heart muscles which is often one of the first signs of diabetes' effect on cardiac function, increasing the risk of heart failure," Schmidt added.
Advanced ultrasound scanning of the heart also demonstrated that the heart's contraction phase was improved and that the capacity of the heart to shorten was improved by 23 per cent - a research result that had not been reported with other types of physical activity.
At the start of the study, 60 per cent of the participants had too high blood pressure and had been prescribed one or more pressure reducing medications.
Soccer training reduced the systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 8 mmHg, which is greater than the achievements of prior training studies. These effects are as pronounced as those achieved by taking high blood pressure pills and the need for medication was significant reduced.
The study also showed that the participants' maximal oxygen uptake was increased by 12 per cent and that their intermittent exercise capacity was elevated by 42 per cent.
"An improved physical condition reduces the risk for other illnesses associated with type 2 diabetes and makes it easier to get along with daily tasks and maintain a physically active life," said Thomas Rostgaard.
