November is National Diabetes Month, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. They are working in conjunction with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute because the theme this year is to highlight the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Did you know that adults with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to die from heart disease as people without diabetes? Diabetes is a chronic disease that is characterized by high blood sugar. This increased sugar in your blood can damage the blood vessels contributing to cardiovascular disease. At Walkingspree we have one of the best solutions to helping prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease: to get walking! Multiple studies have shown that walking can help prevent type 2 diabetes. Regular walking at a moderate pace is easy to sustain over a lifetime, so it improves the odds that you will prevent not only diabetes but also cardiovascular disease. How much walking you ask? Well this study found positive results for walking around just 8.6 miles per week. That’s just 19,350 steps a week on your Walkingspree app! How many are you clocking? To learn more about the connection between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, check out this video:Slentz, C.A., Bateman, L.A., Willis, L.H. et al. Effects of exercise training alone vs a combined exercise and nutritional lifestyle intervention on glucose homeostasis in prediabetic individuals: a randomised controlled trial. Diabetologia 2016; 59: 2088. doi:10.1007/s00125-016-4051-z