Effect of combined aerobic and resistance training on aerobic fitness, strength, beta-endorphin, blood glucose level, and insulin resistance in women with type II diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic disorders and important public health problems. This disease accounts for 9% of all mortalities in the world and can lead to neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiac disease in the long term. Regarding this, the present study aimed to assess the effect of combined aerobic and resistance training on beta-endorphin level and its influence on μ receptor in skeletal muscles for reducing glucose and insulin resistance levels in sedentary women with type II diabetes mellitus.

This randomized clinical trial was performed on 18 sedentary women with type II diabetes mellitus aged 40-50 years in 2015. The subjects were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The exercise program was conducted for 8 weeks, three sessions a week. Each session included a 20-minute aerobic training, in addition to a strength training program. Blood samples were collected to investigate the serum levels of β-endorphin, glucose, and insulin 48 h before and after the intervention. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (version 16) using Student’s, paired sample, and independent t-tests for the normal data and Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests for abnormal data to estimate the intra-group and inter-group differences, respectively. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The results indicated that our combined training significantly increased maximal oxygen uptake, strength, and serum level of β-endorphin, and decreased the glucose and insulin-resistance levels (P≤0.05).

This study showed that the combined training declined glycemic index and augmented β-endorphin level. Consequently, this intervention could make a desirable effect on the reduction of risk factors in women with type II diabetes mellitus