Blood sugar levels and High intensity workouts?

As a rule, high intensity raises BG levels, steady cardio reduces levels. As you get used to the workout, you may find that your body becomes more accustomed and these rise will stop.

Would having something to eat thirty mins before help reduce BG? No idea, just throwing it out there!


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Diagnosed prediabetic Easter 2014. Just left to get on with it, no guidance or help from GP. Every day I'm learning something new.

Eating would probably increase BG levels. Possibly try a different workout one day, a brisk walk for instance, to see how this affects your levels.

Sorry, the only solution is to reduce the intensity of your exercise (which is not to say that you can't run a marathon - whilst your intended pace may result in a BG increase today you will get more efficient at running and may see less of a raise at the same pace after a month of training) or to take extra insulin (think like a pancreas recommends to start of with 50% needed to correct the increase)

san4.0 said:

Hello all,

am new to this forum ....and to Diabetes. Sorry if starting new thread is not right thing to do. (Never replied to anything online before). Would really appreciate any help on a question I have.

Was diagnosed end April. Researched a lot on 'What They Dont tell You about Diabetes' site which helped. Got a glucose monitor too and religiously monitoring overnight and post meals. All seems ok-ish (on LCHF diet) with no meds , BUT I am continuing a once/twice a week class I have been doing for years, very high intensity workouts.

Started measuring blood before (~4.7mmol/l) and after (class is 1 hr). The After results were a Shock - 3 different workouts gave :9.5, 7.7 and 8.4. Highest results I ever see.
Question: is this normal? Should I be worried?

I searched on web and found:-
''Glucose metabolism during high-intensity exercise.
In intense exercise (>80% VO2max), unlike at lesser intensities, glucose is the exclusive muscle fuel.30 Catecholamine levels rise markedly, causing glucose production to rise seven- to eightfold while glucose utilization is only increased three- to fourfold. In people without diabetes there is a small blood glucose increase during intense exercise that increases further immediately at exhaustion and persists for up to 1 hour. Plasma insulin levels rise, correcting the glucose level and restoring muscle glycogen. This physiological response would be absent in type 1 diabetics.'' http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3587394/.''
(no data on type II) . Could this be what is being observed?

Anyone observed this too?

San4.0

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Hi San4.0,
What you have observed is perfectly normal and you have found the reason why - it's basically your body's stress response.
Eating before exercise isn't a good idea - particularly if you know your BGs will be rising anyway.
What you may like to do however is to combine your high intensity workout with some more moderate exercise to help maintain BGs at a more healthy level. Also - why not consider doing a 20min easy paced run after your workout - help bring Blood glucose levels down?
Take a look through the TeamBG website and you should be able to get a better idea of how to maintain healthy bloods. http://www.teambloodglucose.com/TeamBG/Kit_Bag.html
Keep up the great work!

I am 70 years old and been retired since December 2006 I am very active. not over weight 12lb4oz BP average around 120 over 65 cholestrol 3.5. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two and a half years ago. I am still having problems controlling my blood sugar levels. I have been checkiing twice daily morning before breakfast and evening around 10pm The results varied between 6 and 14 usually higher in the morning.I have no other symptoms of Daibetes
Current medication:
Morning: Metformin 2 x 500mg Gliclazide 2 x 30mg, sitagliptin 1 x 25mg
Evening: Metformin 2 x 500mg, Gliclzide 1x30mg

the last two days are a follows:

Tuesday before breakfast BSL 9.6 had breakfast 2 weetabix with a few rasins and semi skimmed mild (no sugar) cup of coffee with semi skimmed milk no sugar. mid morning had another coffee. 12noon started to feel blood sugar dropping and started to shake i was out and therefore couldn't ckeck my BSL, ate lunch Lasagne with salad followed forest fruit crumble with custard. cup of tea with milk no sugar (shakes stopped) Mid afternoon cup of tea 5pm evening meal mushroom omlett with chips (homemade) half Greatfruit no sugar cup of tea.
8pm 2 cream crakers 10pm BSL 7.4

Wednesday: before breakfast BSL 8.8 Breakfast porriage made with semi skimmed milk and 3 prumes copped into it. cup of coffee. mid morning cup of coffee, Lunch 12noon Home made vegetable soup with granary bread roll, very small piece banana loaf, cup of tea. 3.30pm wasn't feeling well so ckeck BSL 17.1. evening meal homemade meat and potato pie with caulif lower and peas, 4 strawberries cup of tea
8pm 2 cream crakers small amount of cheese. 10pm BSL 8.1
These two days are fairly typical of my daily diat
What am I doing wrong?

It's exactly what you would expect to happen and my levels have rocketed during interval sessions. The best way I have found to control them is to inject insulin during the session. As with everything it's a bit of trial and error to work out when to inject and the best amount but you will learn.

I have never found my body gets used to the interval sessions, it's high BG levels every time (18mths now) and I certainly wouldn't eat anything.

Harold.Hoggarth said:

I am 70 years old and been retired since December 2006 I am very active. not over weight 12lb4oz BP average around 120 over 65 cholestrol 3.5. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two and a half years ago. I am still having problems controlling my blood sugar levels. I have been checkiing twice daily morning before breakfast and evening around 10pm The results varied between 6 and 14 usually higher in the morning.I have no other symptoms of Daibetes
Current medication:
Morning: Metformin 2 x 500mg Gliclazide 2 x 30mg, sitagliptin 1 x 25mg
Evening: Metformin 2 x 500mg, Gliclzide 1x30mg

the last two days are a follows:

Tuesday before breakfast BSL 9.6 had breakfast 2 weetabix with a few rasins and semi skimmed mild (no sugar) cup of coffee with semi skimmed milk no sugar. mid morning had another coffee. 12noon started to feel blood sugar dropping and started to shake i was out and therefore couldn't ckeck my BSL, ate lunch Lasagne with salad followed forest fruit crumble with custard. cup of tea with milk no sugar (shakes stopped) Mid afternoon cup of tea 5pm evening meal mushroom omlett with chips (homemade) half Greatfruit no sugar cup of tea.
8pm 2 cream crakers 10pm BSL 7.4

Wednesday: before breakfast BSL 8.8 Breakfast porriage made with semi skimmed milk and 3 prumes copped into it. cup of coffee. mid morning cup of coffee, Lunch 12noon Home made vegetable soup with granary bread roll, very small piece banana loaf, cup of tea. 3.30pm wasn't feeling well so ckeck BSL 17.1. evening meal homemade meat and potato pie with caulif lower and peas, 4 strawberries cup of tea
8pm 2 cream crakers small amount of cheese. 10pm BSL 8.1
These two days are fairly typical of my daily diat
What am I doing wrong?

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Hi Harold and welcome to the forum.

It would probably be better if you'd made a separate post to introduce yourself.

Hopefully @daisy1 will be along shortly to give you the basic information.

In the meantime, your diet seems very high in carbohydrates. I know if I was eating that amount of processed sugar and carbohydrates that my blood glucose levels would be through the roof.

I've highlighted in red the foods that I suspect are causing problems for you.

Indy51 said:

Hi Harold and welcome to the forum.

It would probably be better if you'd made a separate post to introduce yourself.

Hopefully @daisy1 will be along shortly to give you the basic information.

In the meantime, your diet seems very high in carbohydrates. I know if I was eating that amount of processed sugar and carbohydrates that my blood glucose levels would be through the roof.

I've highlighted in red the foods that I suspect are causing problems for you.

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Hi Harold and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will come along and help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 100,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

san4.0 said:

Thanks mo1905: I dont want to stop the workouts unless I have to. I'll keep monitoring and see what happens as I lose weight- I've been doing the workouts, once a week, for ages , but am overweight , so they are hard! so maybe as weight drops it will also help. Again , unless anyone can tell me its really bad for me, i'll carry on! This is a whole new world to learn about!

Hi Bebo321
I should mention I am trying to manage blood glucose on diet and exercise alone. BG returns to normal after about 2 hrs. I can then get to 5 mmol/ l . So does a short time At high level once per week matter? Or dum question? Should we never go high?

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Hi san4.0
I had a bit of difficulty working out what you meant there, but I think I see that you are exercising once a week - finding it hard going, getting elevated BG levels, then your BG drops to perhaps 5 2hrs later (I hope I got that right) and you are concerned about raised blood glucose levels from exercise.

Firstly, great that you are exercising!
It is obviously better not to have high blood sugar spikes, or constantly elevated blood sugar levels. I would argue however that the benefits of exercise far outweigh the downside of an occasional blood glucose rise. Nevertheless it is obviously sensible to minimise this.

Things you may like to consider to make improvements:

One blast of exercise a week isn't really enough. Take some exercise every day. It doesn't have to be a workout - just a 30 minute walk at a reasonable pace (really any form of exercise would do - taking the stairs, doing some star jumps whilst watching TV, invest in a pogo stick etc) This will help keep BG levels slightly lower during the day and help raise your general fitness levels.

When you are working out, you are obviously working hard enough to create a stress response within your body, so that your liver is releasing glucose into your bloodstream.
This can be tricky to manage, but have you thought of changing your workout so that it incorporates some lower intensity exercise too? What this will do is to lower your heart rate and put a stop to the stress response (though unfortunately the liver can be a bit slow getting the message). Lower intensity exercise will help maintain stable blood glucose levels whilst your liver is in 'dumping' mode.
Try designing a workout that incorporates both high and more moderate intensity exercise - perhaps 'cool down' the workout with lower intensity exercise towards the end. If not, go for a gentle swim afterwards, or walk back to the office etc.

Hope that helps a bit - great that you are committed to exercising at least once a week. Hopefully by making exercise more part of a daily routine (I want you to post a photo on the forum when you do get the pogo stick) and you reduce the intensity of your weekly workout (hopefully making it slightly less challenging!) you will get even better results.

san4.0 said:

Thanks mo1905: I dont want to stop the workouts unless I have to. I'll keep monitoring and see what happens as I lose weight- I've been doing the workouts, once a week, for ages , but am overweight , so they are hard! so maybe as weight drops it will also help. Again , unless anyone can tell me its really bad for me, i'll carry on! This is a whole new world to learn about!

Hi Bebo321
I should mention I am trying to manage blood glucose on diet and exercise alone. BG returns to normal after about 2 hrs. I can then get to 5 mmol/ l . So does a short time At high level once per week matter? Or dum question? Should we never go high?

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Hi san4,
Apologies,
I have just spotted that this is a weekly class that you take, so not really a workout of your own making in a gym say.
From your results I can see that your BGs are certainly elevated, but a rise to 7 or 8 is fine.
I would suggest that you keep the exercise classes up - just take it a little easier though. Your class, when combined with more regular daily exercise should be a winning formula.