YARDLEY & BOULÉ LAB
RESEARCH
Our Current Focus
WHAT IS DIABETES?
Diabetes is a chronic disease characterized by an insufficient amount of insulin production. There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body can no longer produce any insulin. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin. Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy, and is also linked with insulin production. Our lab's focus is investigating strategies involving exercise and physical activity that improve the experience of living with diabetes.
YARDLEY LAB
"Most of my research to date has focused on exercise (most often weight-lifting) and how it affects people with type 1 diabetes. Exercise is known to make people with diabetes live much longer, much healthier lives. The biggest issue is that it generally complicates blood glucose management and brings with it an increased risk of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose - which can be very dangerous). Fear of going low is the biggest barrier to exercise in this population. Part of what I hope to achieve is finding a safe and effective way for people with type 1 diabetes to exercise. Lately this has also included some studies on high intensity interval training and fasted exercise, and studies examining the menstrual cycle in an exercise context in women with type 1 diabetes. I have also expanded to include some work with islet transplant recipients, and people with type 2 diabetes."
- Jane Yardley
BOULÉ LAB
"My research program focuses on the role of exercise in preventing and managing diabetes. The majority of my projects involve adults with type 2 diabetes and examine physiological outcomes related to glycemic control or physical fitness.
I’m interested in the effects of different exercise types (e.g., resistance vs. aerobic), intensities (e.g., high-intensity interval training), frequencies and durations. I’m also interested in how best to combine exercise within the context of other diabetes therapies. For example, we have recently examined ways to better combined exercise with specific glucose lowering medications."
- Normand Boulé