Blood sugar numbers and link to exercise

[Gee1970]

I was diagnosed t2 back in November and have managed to get some control on my diabetes such that the doc has reduced my metformin but only from 4 per day to 3 after my latest quarterly assessment (so basically over 6 months to reduce it by 1 tablet a day...not great tbh). I really want to be getting off it as soon as possible but at this rate it may be another year if at all...

The main reason for the thread is the variance in fasting blood numbers following increased exercise in my case. My number was 8.3 the other morning and 8.9 today. Over the last 3 weeks I have averaged over 75,000 steps and circa 81,000 last week. In fact the last couple of days I’ve done circa 17,000 and as Ive increased my exercise I have noticed the fasting numbers increase.

To try and understand this is it possible that my body is getting used to the need for more energy to be injected through the body to cater for the extra likely exercise. I have certainly not changed my diet over the last few weeks and when you do more exercise and then see higher blood levels it is a psychological hit to your confidence when you want to be improving to get to the healthy goal of not needing metformin.

It’s a real mental challenge tbh and this site has provided some great points for me over the last 6 months, stuff that you really don’t get from your doc.

Anyone else have similar results of increased numbers with more exercise? It could also be that the metformin has reduced slightly for the last 6 weeks from 4 to 3, leading to slightly higher numbers.

 

[adrian1der]

Are these numbers immediately after you work out?

 

[Gee1970]

No. The 8.9 is a wake up in the morning number before getting up.

 

[rebrascora]

Well that just answered my question then.
I can understand you feeling demoralized with those results when you are doing your best to exercise more.
When do you exercise and what sort of things are you eating? ie a typical day's menu?

 

[adrian1der]

I see my BS rise after vigorous exercise but it then drops.

 

[Gee1970]

Interesting points tbh. I’ve not tested after exercise tbh so am probably a bit half baked with the info.

My walk is fairly sedate I would say. I pretty much did around 6 miles yesterday in a couple of hours. There are the variances of up and down hills within that but I don’t really get the heart pumping to 120+ for example, it is generally around 100 ish during my walks.

 

[rebrascora]

If you are able, I would try to pick the pace up with your walks. Swing your legs a bit faster and/or take longer strides. I find it helps to count in my head in order to stick to a pace like marching soldiers or sing to myself or perhaps you could find some music which has the right rhythm, but then changing tracks will alter that and I find consistency really helps with my pace.
There are lots of different ways and paces of walking. I now "yomp" everywhere with an extended stride and faster paces. Getting a bit out of breath and sweaty is important. Keeping to a good rhythm is also really helpful. Not slacking off the pace up the hills if you can manage to keep going. Rather than just walk or saunter like most dog walkers do, push yourself a bit like you are running late for an appointment. I will see someone ahead of me and see how quickly I can overtake them by extending my walk. Swing your arms as well as your legs. It all makes a difference.

 

[helli]

Moderate exercise is known to reduce BG whilst strenuous exercise can increase it,

This depends on the type of exercise and your fitness at that form of exercise more than the strenuosness (or strenuosity?)
Generally, stop-start exercise such as interval training and weights will raise blood sugars as will anything which is stressful on your body.

I am a frequent cyclist
- if I do a long sprint, my blood sugars fall
- if I do short intervals, my blood sugars rise
- if I pootle along the tow path (flat) whilst chatting with my friends, my blood sugars stay flat(ish)
- if I do a nasty uphill slog in the rain against the wind (stresful) ride, my blood sugars will rise.

When there is not a pandemic, I am also a climber. Climbing is resistance (weight) training and stop start. My blood sugar levels always rise regardless how difficult (strenuous) the route is.

I occasionally run but I am not very good at it and don't enjoy it. Running will cause my levels to rise because I am not very fit when it comes to running even though I am when it comes to cycling.

After any exercise, my blood sugars will be lower for the next 24 hours.

The important thing is to do lots of testing to learn what your body does for that type of exercise and don't be surprised if things change over time.

 

[Gee1970]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Just had an early morning walk 4000 steps and tested again to get a reading of 4.5. Excellent stuff, I think. Had a grilled breakfast with limited carbs before the walk and so the upshot is the numbers have halved since 9.00 am when it was 8.9. Amazing what a difference in 3 hours and being a logical person I like to make sense of what the body is doing.

My take on it is that my body is reacting favourably to the extra exercise over the last few weeks and probably not to be over concerned with morning spikes as it is probably adapting to the extra work the body is likely to do in the day.

 

[EllsBells]

Your morning fasting levels are likely to be the last to fall, so be patient. I got ridiculously excited the first time I got a reading in the normal range, after weeks of strictly managing carb intake and still seeing 9s and 8s of a morning.

 

[rebrascora]

If you normally wake up around 9am, try setting an alarm for 7am and test straightaway then... and go back to sleep if you wish.... and then test again when you wake up at 9am. I think you may notice a difference there too.... It's called Dawn Phenomenon.

If you want to play with some technology, Abbott laboratories were and maybe still are doing a free trial of their Libre 2 which you might qualify for, if you have a compatible phone. It will show you what your BG levels are doing throughout the day and night. A sensor lasts 14 days so you would get 2 whole weeks of 24hr data which will teach you a lot..... Beware, it is addictive though and you will want to continue with them but @£50 a shot it becomes an expensive habit!... That said, deduct the cost of the test strips you currently buy and it comes near to paying for itself, depending upon how often you test.... It is a great bit of kit!

 

[rebrascora]

I find watching my Libre closely that when I yomp up the hill and my muscles start to burn and by breathing gets more laboured my levels go up but once I get onto the flat or come down the hill keeping the same pace as I did going up, my levels start to drop and they will continue to drop for the rest of the day and night, but then Dawn phenomenon kicks in the next morning. Not sure if it is the muscle burn which triggers the liver to release glucose or the increased oxygen or something else but you tend to see the benefit of that muscle burn with regard to your BG levels later in the day and night. My thoughts are that the muscle cells suck glucose out of your blood when your body is at rest afterwards to replenish their stores.

 

[Loobyloo]

Keep it up. I exercise and find my blood sugars drop or dont climb if after a meal. My morning BG reading is a little higher usually between 6.4 - 7. I def am affected by Dawn phenomenon. I don't worry too much as like most people say its the morning readings that will be last to drop. I look at the overall picture and that my levels have dropped from 108 to 37 is good enough for me regardless of the morning readings. Its the average daily readings that are important.