Lifestyle choices factor in heavily when it comes to successful management of type one or two diabetes. Exercise in particular, benefits this disease on several fronts and barring any condition that prohibits physical activity, you should make it a regular part of your routine at a capacity appropriate for your circumstances. Always check with a doctor before beginning an exercise regimen.
Benefits
When you have diabetes, your body does not make or properly utilize the hormone insulin, which helps transport glucose into cells for energy. Exercise increases your cells' sensitivity to glucose, which helps move it out of the bloodstream, contributing to better blood sugar levels. During actual physical activity, your body moves glucose out of the blood and to the muscles for energy, again keeping blood sugar levels low. Exercise's blood-sugar lowering effects make it possible to reduce your need for blood-sugar lowering medications like insulin or in the case of type two diabetes, possibly eliminate it altogether. Diabetes also increases your risk for heart and kidney disease and exercise helps reduce these complications by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels and keeping your weight in check.
Monitoring Blood Sugar
If you take drugs to lower your blood sugar, you might need to check your blood sugar levels before, during and after physical activity to ensure it is in a safe range. Pre-exercise, your blood sugar should fall between 100 to 250 mg/dL. If lower, eat a carbohydrate-laden snack to boost it up; you should measure glucose levels both 30 minutes prior and right before a workout. Readings over 250 but under 300 indicate your body might not have enough insulin to control your blood sugar and you can determine this by testing your urine for ketones, substances that indicate low insulin levels; consult with your doctor for guidance in ketone testing. Do not exercise at all if your reading goes 300 or beyond. If exercising for more than one hour, check blood sugar every 30 minutes and stop exercising if it falls to 70 or below; eat a snack that will boost blood sugar quickly like 4 oz of soda or fruit juice, glucose tablets or a few pieces of hard candy. Check levels again in 15 min and repeat until it goes back past 70. You should also check your blood sugar levels after exercise and during the next several hours and employ the same recommendations to raise low levels post-exercise. Signs of low-blood sugar include sweating, dizziness, confusion, shakiness and anxiety.
Recommended Exercise Time
To help manage blood sugar levels, you should aim for about 2.5 hour of activity weekly; this equates to about 30 minutes five days a week. As little as 20 minutes three times a week has exerted a blood-sugar lowering effect so at the very least, aim for this to start.
Precautions
Because of your increased risk for foot ulcers, you should always wear properly-fitting shoes and always check your feet after exercise for cuts, sores and blisters. This is particularly important if you have nerve damage in your feet as you might not feel any damage. If you have diabetic retinopathy, a condition that causes bulging blood vessels in the eyes, certain activities and movements that provide a sudden raise in blood pressure could prove problematic such as quickly changing direction, quick bursts of movement, weight lifting and movements where you lower your head below your heart, such as certain yoga poses.
