Diabetes and Exercise
Diabetes mellitus is a common, chronic disease in which a person’s blood sugar (glucose) levels are often too high. Getting exercise on a regular basis is an important part of diabetes treatment.
WHY SHOULD I EXERCISE REGULARLY IF I HAVE DIABETES?
Exercising regularly provides many benefits for people who have diabetes. Some of these benefits include:
• Lowering your blood glucose level. During exercise, muscles use glucose in your bloodstream for energy. This causes your blood glucose level to go down. Toned muscles also burn more glucose throughout the day, even when you are not exercising.
• Maintaining a healthy body weight and structure. Exercise helps you do this by burning fat tissue and building muscle.
• Reducing the risk of heart disease. People with diabetes are at an increased risk for heart …show more content…
• If you have type 1 diabetes, talk with your health care provider about managing blood glucose levels with insulin before, during, and after exercise.
• Understand that exercise affects blood glucose levels differently depending on how long you exercise and other factors such as whether you are sick. Be ready to treat high blood glucose (hyperglycemia) and low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) right away if either occurs during or after exercise.
CAN EXERCISE CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS RELATED TO DIABETES?
If performed incorrectly, exercise can result in problems for people with diabetes. Your health care provider can help you decide on an exercise plan that allows you to avoid these problems. Some of these problems include:
• Poor control of blood sugar. This may occur when exercise is performed at the wrong time or at too high of an intensity.
• Poor response to normal insulin doses around the time of exercise.
• Decreased kidney function from a loss of body fluids (dehydration).
• Increased risk of nerve injury (neuropathy) in the feet when performing exercise without proper foot
Diabetes mellitus is a common, chronic disease in which a person’s blood sugar (glucose) levels are often too high. Getting exercise on a regular basis is an important part of diabetes treatment.
WHY SHOULD I EXERCISE REGULARLY IF I HAVE DIABETES?
Exercising regularly provides many benefits for people who have diabetes. Some of these benefits include:
• Lowering your blood glucose level. During exercise, muscles use glucose in your bloodstream for energy. This causes your blood glucose level to go down. Toned muscles also burn more glucose throughout the day, even when you are not exercising.
• Maintaining a healthy body weight and structure. Exercise helps you do this by burning fat tissue and building muscle.
• Reducing the risk of heart disease. People with diabetes are at an increased risk for heart …show more content…
• If you have type 1 diabetes, talk with your health care provider about managing blood glucose levels with insulin before, during, and after exercise.
• Understand that exercise affects blood glucose levels differently depending on how long you exercise and other factors such as whether you are sick. Be ready to treat high blood glucose (hyperglycemia) and low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) right away if either occurs during or after exercise.
CAN EXERCISE CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS RELATED TO DIABETES?
If performed incorrectly, exercise can result in problems for people with diabetes. Your health care provider can help you decide on an exercise plan that allows you to avoid these problems. Some of these problems include:
• Poor control of blood sugar. This may occur when exercise is performed at the wrong time or at too high of an intensity.
• Poor response to normal insulin doses around the time of exercise.
• Decreased kidney function from a loss of body fluids (dehydration).
• Increased risk of nerve injury (neuropathy) in the feet when performing exercise without proper foot