Your pancreas serves two purposes, according to the American Diabetes Association. It helps break down the food you eat into energy and regulates how your body uses the energy. The pancreas plays a vital role in regulating your blood chemistry to provide your muscles the energy they need to keep you active and moving.
Physiology
Your pancreas secretes digestive enzymes and hormones, including the hormone insulin, that change the food you eat into components your body uses during exercise. Your body converts some of the food you eat into glucose that your muscles use as instant energy during exercise. Glucose builds in your bloodstream after meals, ready for delivery to your muscles.
The cells in your muscles, however, cannot absorb glucose without the help of insulin produced in special cells inside your pancreas.The islets of Langerhans make up one to two percent of pancreatic cells. These produce the glucagon and the beta-cells that secrete insulin. Hormones glucagon and insulin work in tandem to balance your blood glucose levels used as energy during exercise.
Insulin
Your pancreas monitors your blood sugar and activity levels; it secretes insulin or glucagon levels so that your muscles have the right amount of blood sugar to perform the exercise. When you eat, your blood sugar rises until it stimulates your pancreas to produce insulin, according to Corexel. The presence of insulin causes the cells of your muscles to become more receptive to blood glucose in order to obtain the energy the muscles need during exercise. When you exercise, your blood sugar levels drop as your muscles take up the energy source.
Glucagon
Your pancreas is sensitive to your activity levels. When you exercise or skip a meal, your blood sugar drops. Your pancreas reacts by secreting glucagon. Glucagon is antagonistic, or acts in the opposite manner, of insulin. Glucagon decreases muscle cell sensitivity to blood sugar, reducing the rate at which your blood glucose levels drop. Glucagon also stimulates the pancreas into making glucose to help restore blood sugar levels to normal values. Your pancreas prevents your muscles from absorbing too much blood sugar.
Post Exercise
Aerobic exercise reduces pancreatic workload by enhancing the way muscles absorb glucose. Your muscles become more sensitive to insulin when you exercise. This sensitivity lasts for several hours after you stop exercising. Sensitivity strength and duration depend on the intensity and length of the exercise session. Enhanced muscle sensitivity to insulin means your cells do not need as much insulin, and therefore exercise is beneficial to your pancreas.
