Live longer: Simple at home exercises to prevent frailty and burn off sugar – doctor’s tip

High blood sugar: What are the warning signs?

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According to Doctor Noel Young, clinical innovation associate at Thriva, we begin to lose around one percent of our muscle mass every year once we hit 35. “This puts us at risk of osteoporosis, frailty, falls with injuries like hip fractures as we age,” he said. “So keep active in your day to day.”

He recommended making “simple” lifestyle changes.

Doctor Young said: “Try things like walking 4,000 to 6,000 steps a day or taking the stairs.

“Engage in some type of regular exercise that you enjoy, like swimming, yoga or playing sports.

“Even simple changes like using a standing desk can help to keep your legs and bum muscles strong.”

But more specifically he advised muscle strengthening exercises to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

He explained: “High blood sugar can damage blood vessels and nerves and increase the risk of diabetes as well as other chronic diseases in the long run.

“You can have high blood sugar without having actual diabetes – so called prediabetes.

“You can increase the rate at which you burn sugar.

“To do this, do some exercise to strengthen your muscles.

“Increasing your muscle mass will not only help prevent frailty, but will also burn off any extra sugar in your blood.

“Focus on the largest muscle groups for greatest impact – so your legs, bum and back – and do exercises like squats and deadlifts.”

You can practice squats at home without the need for equipment, but can hold household objects to increase the resistance.

And deadlifts can be performed at home using dumbbells.

He added: “Blood sugar levels rise naturally after eating food so you can reduce this by cutting back on sugary food and drinks and refined carbohydrates (white bread, potatoes and pasta).

“You can also do things like take a 10 minute walk after meals – this has been shown to reduce the amount your blood sugar rises.”

Diabetes.co.uk says “normal” blood sugar levels are: between 4.0 to 5.4 millimoles per litre (mmol/L) when fasting and up to 7.8 mmol/L two hours after eating.

For people with diabetes, blood sugar level targets are four to seven mmol/L before eating.

And they should be under nine mmol/L for people with type 1 diabetes, and under 8.5 mmol/L for people with type 2 diabetes after eating.

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