Always check your blood sugar before exercising
Glucose from the food you eat goes into your blood and when needed, goes into your muscles for fuel. Your muscles store glucose as glycogen, but when that runs out because of physical activity, then it is replaced by taking glucose out of the bloodstream.
When you first start exercising, your body starts using up the glucose in your muscles and liver, then it gets it out of the blood, so your levels start to drop during prolonged exercise. Later, after you’ve stopped exercising your body replaces the used up glucose in in muscles and the liver. This can cause glucose levels to continue dropping several hours after you ceased to exercise, so monitoring it is very important. You should test to find out where your levels are and adjust them accordingly with a snack perhaps.
This is not an excuse to not exercise because it will lower your glucose. I know my mother has exercised after dinner and then checked her glucose later in the evening and had a snack before going to bed to prevent hypoglycemia while she slept. This worked out very well for her and she was much healthier for having done the exercise. It was after she stopped that her health deteriorated rapidly and she lost control of her glucose levels. It’s important to note that people who are taking insulin, a meglitinide, or a sulfonlurea should pay close attention to what their glucose levels are during and after exercise. They may drop too low and you’ll need to adjust with whatever your doctor recommends using, perhaps a glucose tab or two to get into your system quickly.
Regular exercise is a great tool for keeping your blood glucose levels in check. It can also affect how your body uses insulin. So, do exercise to get and keep yourself healthy, just do it wisely and pay attention to your body. Check your glucose level before you start exercising and if it’s less than 100 mg/dl, then have a snack. Have a snack, a piece of fruit or something that has about 10-15 grams of carbs in it, then wait for 1/2 hour. Test again and exercise only after your glucose level is above 100 mg/dl. With regular exercise and a balanced healthy diet, you can regulate your blood glucose much better than if you are a couch potato that eats fast food. Life will be much happier and more enjoyable for you and your family.
Exercise is a great way to keep diabetes in normal level…
what’s the normal range of glucose level ?
If you’re not a diabetic, your morning fasting glucose(before breakfast) would be from 70-99 mg/dl. If you are, it would be around 126, or higher. There are several differing parameters to what is the “norm” for people, depending on which diabetes medical organization guideline your doctor subscribes to. The one above is the one that my mother’s doctor adheres to when judging whether or not she has been maintaining control of her blood glucose.
Hope my answer helps you out. I welcome any questions or observations relevant to the topic.
70-99 mg/dl are you sure?
Yes, it is generally in that range in the morning before breakfast. I am pre-diabetic and mine is sometimes about 110-120.
It takes a good amount of checking and watching what I eat to keep it where it belongs.
Thanks for the good information that I found on your site,
Wish you the best,
Marcus
I also like to test my bs first thing in the morning (fasting) and then again before I go to bed.
Excellent info. See many young people with diabetes that struggle with keeping their BG balanced and remaining active at the same time.