DISCUSSION
cardiovascular disease
DILATION, EVENTS, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, INSULIN SENSITIVITY
Three days of exercise removal impairs glycemic control in older adults as well as young adults. Twenty‐four‐hour blood glucose standard deviation, an indicator of the variability of blood glucose concentrations, and 24‐h maximum glucose values were both elevated in the NOEX phase compared to the EX phase, suggesting greater fluctuations in blood glucose. Further, peak PPIG, mean PPIG, PPIG AUC, and delta PPIG were also higher during the NOEX phase compared to the EX phase. PPIG and delta PPIG were also higher in the older adults compared to the young adults, yet no interaction was found. Collectively, these results suggest that an acute decrease in habitual exercise and older age worsen glycemic control; and the detriments in glycemic control are consistent between young and old adults in response to the removal of exercise. This is clinically relevant and adds to the body of evidence supporting the use of physical activity and exercise in preventing cardiovascular disease in aging and older adults (Jakovljevic, Exercise is widely known to have numerous health effects, particularly in regard to metabolic health (Thyfault & Bergouignan, Numerous studies demonstrate the importance of physical activity and exercise on PPG in young adults (Coe et al., Oscillations in blood glucose levels have been demonstrated to have deleterious outcomes on flow‐mediated dilation, a measure of endothelial function that has been demonstrated to predict cardiovascular events (Matsuzawa et al., Prolonged, excessive caloric intake may negatively impact insulin sensitivity (Samocha‐Bonet et al., Importantly, it is also necessary to address that the CGM measures interstitial glucose levels not blood glucose levels. Much of the literature examining detrimental health links to PPG examined blood glucose (Cavalot et al., Some limitations of this study exist. The sample size of the study was small limiting the generalizability of the findings. Further, the groups were not evenly matched by gender. The young participants had a greater number of men than women and the older participants had a greater number of women than men. It is important to point out that the older women were all post‐menopausal, which may minimize the hormonal differences (mainly estrogen) between the groups. Pre‐menopausal women tend to have greater insulin sensitivity and greater insulin‐mediated glucose disposal, compared to men, likely due to the insulin‐sensitizing effects of estrogen (De Paoli et al., To conclude, we demonstrate that while older adults experience worse glycemic control than younger adults, and that short‐term removal of exercise impairs glycemic control, older adults do not experience a greater impairment in glycemic control compared to young adults. Our data support the overall need for regular, daily exercise in adults, particularly older adults, who have a worse glycemic profile.