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Exercise & Diabetes
Exercise & Type 1 Diabetes
Regardless of the type of diabetes you have, regular physical activity is important for your overall health and wellness. With type 1 diabetes, it’s very important to balance your insulin doses with the food you eat and the activity that you do—even when you are doing house or yard work. Planning ahead and knowing how your blood glucose (blood sugar) and body respond to exercise can help you keep your blood glucose from going too low or too high.
How to Prevent Lows
Your blood glucose response to exercise will vary depending on:
- Your blood glucose level before you start
- The intensity of the activity
- The length of time you are active
- The changes you’ve made to insulin doses
Sometimes people experience a drop in blood glucose during or after exercise, so it is very important to check your blood glucose, plan ahead, and be prepared to treat hypoglycemia (low blood glucose). To learn how different types of activity affect you, you should check your blood glucose before, during, and after an exercise session.
What to Do When Your Blood Glucose is High
Blood glucose can also run high during or after exercise, particularly when you do a high-intensity exercise that increases your stress hormone (i.e. glucose-raising hormone) levels.
- If your blood glucose is high before starting exercise, check your blood or urine for ketones. If you test positive for ketones, avoid vigorous activity.
- If you do not have ketones in your blood or urine and you feel well, it should be fine to exercise.
Handling excercise for kids with type 1 diabetes can be tricky as activity is often unplanned and spontaneous. Sometimes you don’t know if your child is going to run around for 15 minutes or run around for an hour and needs extra carbs to prevent a low. Be prepared to give 5–15 grams of carbohydrates, depending on the child’s age and size, for every 30 minutes of sustained activity, and monitor blood glucose levels frequently.
For toddlers, 30 minutes or more of physical activity a day with no more than 60 minutes of sitting at a time will help promote motor skills and muscular development.
- For preschoolers, aim for a minimum of at least 60 minutes of activity per day
- Give your child 5–15 grams of carbohydrates for every 30 minutes of activity, depending on initial blood glucose levels and the intensity of the exercise.
- Check pre-exercise blood glucose levels in active children, since a young child may not be able to verbalize the symptoms of a low.
- Starting exercise with blood glucose in the 150–200 mg/dL range may help lower the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) in toddlers.
Your health care team can help you find the balance between activity, food and insulin. When testing on your own to learn about your reaction to different activities, keep a record of your activity and your numbers.
To access the full article on exercise and Type 1 diabetes, click here.
