Is exercise a big thing for diabetics?

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Estellaa

Estellaa

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Now i've noticed alot of type 1 diabetics on here do a lot of exercise? thing is i don't, never have i mean i walk everywhere but places aren't that far away from where i live so it's not that far.
But i have never actually gone out to do exercise, i'm not overweight or anything.
And well the diabetic clinic is never really bothered about me doing any exercise although after 4 months of living here i still have not seen anyone about my diabetes ??
but still, is exercise a big thing for diabetics type 1?
 
I think exercise affects the way our bodies use insulin, although I am not sure how it works exactly.

Keeping active is good for everyone. The fitter you are the better you cope with illnesses and stress.
 
As a type 2 I had a big problem with insulin resistance caused by me being overweight (categorised as obese actually! BMI was 32.5 when I was diagnosed). As of this morning my BMI is 26 and I suspect that my insulin resistance is no longer such a major issue.

I assume the same can occur for type 1's and so on that basis, exercise must be considered a good thing if it maintains your weight at a good level.

Andy 🙂
 
As a Type 2 on D/E control, i do believe that excercise along with watching carb intake have kept (and keeping) my levels in control. I tend to walk every day (to work and back some days) and i go to the gym just one day a week, on a Saturday
 
Estellaa said:
Now i've noticed alot of type 1 diabetics on here do a lot of exercise? thing is i don't, never have i mean i walk everywhere but places aren't that far away from where i live so it's not that far.
But i have never actually gone out to do exercise, i'm not overweight or anything.
And well the diabetic clinic is never really bothered about me doing any exercise although after 4 months of living here i still have not seen anyone about my diabetes ??
but still, is exercise a big thing for diabetics type 1?
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hi estella,

has a type one, aged 28, I exercise to combat the insulin I inject....as it's a growth hormone and encourages fat.

sounds like you are ok and don't need it! I've always struggled with my weight but if you're healthy and not overweight then don't worry about it. obviously a little bit of exercise is good for everyone to make sure you have a healthy heart 🙂
 
Personally, (& I stress, this is just my personal experience!) as a type 1 on mdi I found exercise a total nightmare - the wash-out effect (hypos up to 24 hrs later, unexplained & erratic sugar levels during & after!) was such a challenge that whilst trying to conceive & pregnant I more or less gave up on exercise in order to get tight BG control - it was the only way I could do it. Now I'm on the pump, I'm cautiously optimistic things are better already - so I'm slowly ramping the exercise up, although I'm severely restricted by work hours, kids wrangling, practicalities of how I get to work etc etc...! I think exercise can be slightly more complicated for those of us on insulin, but again, that's just my opinion from what I've experienced myself.. I guess it's still really necessary though from the cardio / weight aspects, although weight wise I always found it a viscious cycle - exercise, hypo, eat, growl...!

Fun fun fun...! 🙄
 
Daily excercise for everyone is important.........I dont do enough.......:(....the more active your muscles are the more absorbent they become for the insulin, thus needing less......which is always a good thing right......🙂
 
They began to mention it more and more to me after I turned 40.

Never had a weight problem and used to walk at least 40 minutes or an hour every day, but gradually things had stopped and for 5 years or so I'd done almost nothing.

Having made a concerted effort to put exercise back into my week this year my experience has been that it works wonders for my control. The effect of physical activity on metabolism continues for hours (even days) after you've stopped actually doing whatever it is and will build up over a number of weeks. Needs a bit of work to get basal and carb ratios sorted if you really go for it, but even a little gentle wandering about helps me to combat spikes and improved fitness is good for BP.

Find something you like to do and go for it!

M
 
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Obviously exercise has lots of benefits. For those with diabetes, I think it's particularly important to exercise to maintain a healthy heart, circulation & respiratory system, given that we are already at risk of heart problems, etc. I believe exercise also reduces insulin resistance, making control a bit easier.

Having said that, I'm with Twitchy in that exercising on MDI was a nightmare, so I avoided it at all costs.

Since I started pumping, I've been a lot more active. With walking to and from work I cover almost 2 miles a day, and I practice yoga 3 or 4 times a week. Yoga I would thoroughly recommend. It's incredibly relaxing & does wonders for my stress levels (therefore reducing BG), and you can choose to do exercises which aren't too strenuous and therefore don't lower BG too quickly.
 
Twitchy said:
as a type 1 on mdi I found exercise a total nightmare - the wash-out effect (hypos up to 24 hrs later, unexplained & erratic sugar levels during & after!)
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twitchy and bigpurpleduck

I agree it can be a bit of a challenge juggling basal and bolus exercising on MDI, maybe I've had it much easier than you two, but I'd certainly recommend T1 and T2 MDIers to give it a go.

The key to my current system is basal. When the kids are off school I rarely if ever get to the gym. During those weeks I need 16u a day of Lantus. For a brief period recently I was going 5-days a week. At that stage I needed more like 12 or 13u. More usually I'll try to go 2 or 3 times a week (Mon/Wed/Fri or Tues/Thurs). 15u is working OK.

Sadly Lantus doesn't like day-to-day adjustment (I might try switching to Levemir for this reason) so I stick with a flat-rate basal thoughout the week. Stop laughing at the back you lot on pumps.

The other thing which is working at the moment is a significant bolus reduction with the meal before exercise (breakfast for me). Currently 5u on non-gym days and 2u(!) on gym days for the same bowl of muesli. This means I need far less rapid-acting CHO after a 30-40 minute session. The effects do last for more than 24 hours, and do build up on more active weeks, but usually knocking a unit off regular i:c ratio calculations is enough to prevent post meal dips. Well mostly!

Don't know how long my purple patch will last and it's taken a good bit of experimentation to set up the current system, but here (with a slightly smug smile) are todays readings:

FBG 5.6
Breakfast (35g CHO 2u Humalog plus 15u Lantus)
20 minute walk to gym
5g CHO before I started
Before session 7.5
After session (30 minutes cardio) 6.3
15g CHO after I finished
20 minute walk back
Before lunch 7.2

Mid afternoon now and still no hypos 🙂

I have noticed in my BG logs that weeks with exercise tend to be much steadier in BG terms. I'd certainly recommend giving it a go.

Mike
 
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I totally agree that MDI shouldn't stop anyone from exercising - sorry if it seemed that this was what I meant.

MDI was a nightmare for me - I think I was so fed up with it that I stopped trying, without realising it. I chose not to persevere with exercise, because I felt it wasn't worth it for all the hassle it caused. But I think this had a lot more to do with my frame of mind than a failure of MDI. Mike - you are true testament that hard work on MDI can pay off, too. I just didn't have as much motivation as you do! I must stress that the difficulties I had with MDI were my difficulties, and personal to me - not everyone will encounter the same problems.

So no - don't let MDI stop you from exercising. There are ways around it, and exercise with the odd hypo is definitely preferable to no exercise.
 
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everydayupsanddowns said:
twitchy and bigpurpleduck

I agree it can be a bit of a challenge juggling basal and bolus exercising on MDI, maybe I've had it much easier than you two, but I'd certainly recommend T1 and T2 MDIers to give it a go.

The key to my current system is basal. When the kids are off school I rarely if ever get to the gym. During those weeks I need 16u a day of Lantus. For a brief period recently I was going 5-days a week. At that stage I needed more like 12 or 13u. More usually I'll try to go 2 or 3 times a week (Mon/Wed/Fri or Tues/Thurs). 15u is working OK.

Sadly Lantus doesn't like day-to-day adjustment (I might try switching to Levemir for this reason) so I stick with a flat-rate basal thoughout the week. Stop laughing at the back you lot on pumps.

Absolultely would not laugh! I know how hard exercise is on mdi! I always try to exercise, admittedly much easier now pumping.

When i did dafne they told us if you do a lot of exercise levemir is much better than lantus, as it affects straight away, and lantus can take 3 days and therefore not ideal for regular exercisers who want to change doses frequently. Also, you can split levemir and only change one dose per day. I think you should consider it?
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Emma
Ha! You wouldn't have said that if you'd looked at my BG levels a year ago... or a month ago come to that. Frankly yesterday was a complete mess! :D

Pump or MDI, T1 or T2 we're all just constantly nibbling away at it aren't we... Trying to figure out what works and hoping to guess right when the goalposts move and the old approaches stop working. Still... keeps us on our toes eh!

Tracey
Yes, it's certainly on my list of things to think about and has been for 6 months or so. The thing that held me back is that I switched rapid insulin this year and though it was quite an easy switch, I didn;t want to rush into the upheaval of another insulin change. I think I'll discuss it with my team at my next review though.

M
 
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everydayupsanddowns said:
FBG 5.6
Breakfast (35g CHO 2u Humalog plus 15u Lantus)
20 minute walk to gym
5g CHO before I started
Before session 7.5
After session (30 minutes cardio) 6.3
15g CHO after I finished
20 minute walk back
Before lunch 7.2

Mike
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Have the amounts of CHO you take after, and before these sessions been worked out through trial and error as well...
 
novorapidboi26 said:
Have the amounts of CHO you take after, and before these sessions been worked out through trial and error as well...
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Very much so... and to be honest it's far less precise than it seems (5g?!?) Usually I have a packet or Fruit Pastilles in my pocket and will have maybe 2 or 3 before I start and perhaps 4 after I finish. So that's around half a pack. This morning I had half a Refreshers bar in my pocket (don't ask) so used that before instead.

This morning I knew not to overdo it as I had my testing kit with me and could see I was OK having finished. I've only recently been reducing my breakfast dose to 2u (was having 3 or 4 before and was going hypo). However if my basal isn't right I can be over 10.5 from an in-range fbg before I even get on the running machine. It's not 100% foolproof but it's giving decent results more often than not at the moment.
 
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everydayupsanddowns said:
Very much so... and to be honest it's far less precise than it seems (5g?!?) Usually I have a packet or Fruit Pastilles in my pocket and will have maybe 2 or 3 before I start and perhaps 4 after I finish. So that's around half a pack. This morning I had half a Refreshers bar in my pocket (don't ask) so used that before instead.

This morning I know not to overdo it as I had my testing kit with me and could see I was OK having finished. I've only recently been reducing my breakfast dose to 2u (was having 3 or 4 before and was going hypo). However if my basal isn't right I can be over 10.5 from an in-range fbg before I even get on the running machine. It's not 100% foolproof but it's giving decent results more often than not at the moment.
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Seems like a really good system to me............I dont push myself with the excercise but if I did I would only be expecting to knock some units off as opposed to the topping up of CHO, before and after, this obviously works a treat for you........but as you say the effects of these sessions carry on for days sometimes....
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Emma
Ha! You wouldn't have said that if you'd looked at my BG levels a year ago... or a month ago come to that. Frankly yesterday was a complete mess! :D

Pump or MDI, T1 or T2 we're all just constantly nibbling away at it aren't we... Trying to figure out what works and hoping to guess right when the goalposts move and the old apporaches stop working. Still... keeps us on our toes eh!
Click to expand...

I have always maintained that having diabetes surely does wonders for your IQ with all the problem-solving & calculating!

Meant to say - I have great respect for those morning numbers you quoted earlier!
 
I must say when i was still at school and did p.e, i often had hypo's :/
i wasn't allowed to do some sports in case i had one and they wouldn't be able to get to me fast enough.
But i'm now doing an IT course when i'm sitting on my bottom all day ^^
the units of novo rapid i have a day range from 7-12 with the three meals then i have 21units of lantus every night.
dunno if that makes a difference.
 
Estellaa said:
the units of novo rapid i have a day range from 7-12 with the three meals then i have 21units of lantus every night.
dunno if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't do... The easiest way I guess is to start gently and just top-up to avoid hypos with rapid-acting carb. Once it becomes regular and starts to build up you'll get an idea of how mich carb you need to balance whatever it is you are doing you can reduce the meal before's bolus by a roughly equivalent amount (as long as the meal before isn't too far before of course, can't go exercising if you've already spiked :( ). As the routine settles down you may well find bolus ratios have shifted and you are still dipping in between meals, in which case you can look at your basal level and adjust that.

M
 
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