Exercise as Medicine: Exploring the Prevention and Management of Diabetes
A special issue of Diabetology (ISSN 2673-4540).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2026 | Viewed by 27
Special Issue Editors
Interests: lifestyle interventions; exercise; physical activity; diabetes; health outcomes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: diabetes public health; diabetes management; diabetes health management; diabetes health care; diabetes chronic care; diabetes nursing care
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to highlight the pivotal role of exercise in preventing and managing all types of diabetes. The number of people living with diabetes is projected to reach 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045, underscoring the urgent need for evidence-based strategies that complement and extend beyond pharmacological treatments.
As a key lifestyle intervention, exercise has consistently been shown to improve glycemic control, cardiovascular and metabolic health, musculoskeletal strength, mental well-being, and sleep quality, while reducing inflammation, visceral fat, and cardiometabolic risk. However, this is a non-exhaustive list of the documented benefits, and ongoing research continues to reveal additional positive effects across multiple physiological and psychosocial domains. These positive effects manifest both for individuals at risk of diabetes and those already living with diabetes. However, the magnitude of these benefits can vary depending on factors such as the type and duration of diabetes, age, sex, baseline physical fitness, comorbidities, medication use, exercise prescription parameters, nutritional status, sleep, and psychosocial influences.
Further research is essential to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of exercise, optimize intervention strategies, and expand our understanding of exercise’s full therapeutic potential in diabetes prevention and management.
We welcome submissions of original research articles and reviews, including narrative, scoping, or systematic reviews, as well as meta-analyses.
Dr. Carlos Vasconcelos
Prof. Dr. Fabio Petrelli
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diabetology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- gestational diabetes
- type 1 diabetes
- type 2 diabetes
- exercise
- physical activity
- prevention
- management
- lifestyle intervention
- health outcomes
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