Physical Activity and Blood Sugar Levels in People with Diabetes Mellitus: Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract—Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a slowly deadly
disease. Indonesia has the 4th highest number of diabetes
mellitus after China, India and the United States. People
with diabetes have grown from 8.4 million in 2000 and will
become 21.3 million in 2030. This study aims to determine
the relationship between body movement and blood sugar
levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This type of
research is quantitative, with a design analytical research
and cross-sectional approach. The sample of this study was
131 people with the criteria for suffering from type 2
diabetes mellitus. Data collection used the Global Body
Movement Questionnaire (GPAQ) questionnaire, and the
statistical test used was the Chi-Square statistical test. The
results showed that there was a relationship between
physical activity and blood sugar levels in patients with
type 2 diabetes mellitus, so it is recommended that DM
patients should routinely carry out body movements and
control blood sugar levels in health care facilities and take
advantage of health services such as health workers if they
experience problems in performing body movements and
follow a diabetic diet according to the advice of a
nutritionist. In-depth conclusions and implications are
discussed.