Type-1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease, whereby the body’s own white blood cells attack the pancreas and stop insulin production, resulting in high blood sugar.
Regular participation in exercise is key to supporting health and wellbeing in people with T1D, but we don’t know how exercise impacts these damaging white blood cells. Importantly, around 70% of people with T1D do not meet current recommended exercise guidelines, hence increasing the knowledge of the benefits of exercise specific to T1D are crucial to increase patient activity levels.
This project will use our popular and effective home-based exercise programme to test whether regular exercise after diagnosis slows the progression of T1D by decreasing the number and activity of white blood cells that enter and destroy the pancreas.
This programme is coordinated by a wrist worn fitness tracker that links to the research team via a mobile phone application. We will examine the feasibility of running this programme through the NHS in newly diagnosed patients.