During a class on exercise for diabetic clients, a female client asks the nurse educator how often to exercise. The nurse educator advises the clients to exercise how often to meet the goals of planned exercise?

Diabetic clients must exercise at least three times a week to meet the goals of planned exercise — lowering the blood glucose level, reducing or maintaining the proper weight, increasing the serum high-density lipoprotein level, decreasing serum triglyceride levels, reducing blood pressure, and minimizing stress. Exercising once a week wouldn’t achieve these goals. Exercising more than three times a week, although beneficial, would exceed the minimum requirement.