Exercise is a crucial part of keeping blood sugar levels in check. Because your body uses sugar for energy during exercise, blood sugar levels typically drop after exercise. As a result, diabetics need to take regular blood sugar readings before, during and after exercise. It also is possible for blood sugar to go up after exercise. To understand how this happens, you must first understand how your body uses sugar for exercise.
Sugar Stores
Your body gets sugar from the foods your consume, especially carbohydrates. When you eat, your intestines break down the food into sugar and absorb the sugar into your blood stream. Your body then releases insulin, which stimulates all your cells to absorb the sugar and convert it into energy. This is an ongoing process. Your body also stores some of the sugar in your liver as a reserve energy supply. Any sugar that is not converted to energy or stored in the liver is stored as fat.
Sugar and Exercise
Your body uses energy at all times but during exercise, it uses more energy than normal. Your body will use blood sugar for energy until the supply runs out. Once the body has used its blood stores, the pancreas releases a chemical called glucagon to stimulate the liver to release its stored sugar. Once the liver stores have run out, the body will break down fat for more energy.
Diabetes and Exercise
As a diabetic, your body has difficulty controlling blood sugar levels, and you may find that your sugar is higher or lower than normal, 100 to 250 mg/dl. If you exercise when your blood sugar is lower than normal, your body will trigger your liver to release more sugar into your blood and cause your blood sugar levels to rise. If this occurs near the end of your exercise session, your post-exercise reading will be higher than normal. If you exercise when your blood sugar is higher than normal, your body may not have enough insulin to use the sugar effectively. During exercise, your body will break down fats because it is unable to use the sugar in your blood, and your post-exercise reading will be higher than normal. This is more common in Type I diabetes than Type II.
Blood Sugar Tips
Always test your blood sugar levels before and after an exercise session. If your levels are below 100 mg/dl or over 250 mg/dl, consider waiting to exercise until your levels are back to normal. For a low reading, eat a carbohydrate-rich snack, wait 15 minutes and take another reading. For a high reading, you may need to administer insulin, wait, and take another reading.
