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Cardio - Dont know why Im feeling surprised

O

Omnipod

Well-Known Member
Messages
533
Location
West Sussex
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Usually my bloods are between 8 and 10 and I have been strugggling to get them lower. Im on a pump and if I take just that extra bit more Insulin, I tend to hypo alot more. Still fine tuning my pump.

I have been off weight training for about 4 months due to starting on the pump, a new job and I have a broken rib and torn intercostal muscle injury.

Yesterday I had the 'perfect' blood sugar day. I did nothing different to my usual eating and insulin routine. I just got up and went for a 30 minute run. My blood sugar stayed between 4.6 and 6 all day. Before bed I was 8 and today i woke up 5.4.
I have not had this good readings in months.

It can only be down to the cardio so today im going for another 30 minute run to see if this stays the same. I do know that excercise brings blood sugar down but I did not think that it would affect my blood sugar as long as it did.
I usually do free weights which did not really affect my blood sugar readings.

I might be taking up more cardio at this rate. Fingers crossed I have another perfect diabetes day. Try it and post your experience.

PS: dont forget to take glucose on the run with you.
 
Not surprised at all, I cycle and run regularly. Yesterday I did an hour on the turbo trainer.
1 hour pre exercise I was at 7.9, 30 minutes in, 3.9, 20 g carb snack left me at 4.9 post exercise.

With my usual mealtime ration afterwards, I only came up to 6.1, and was back at 5.1 pre bed.

Aerobic exercise is a great tool fro BG management, only problem is managing the carbs intake associated with it. I'm still working on that bit.
 
I have a friend who is T1 and who has told me that he does loads of cardio.... running, cycling and he uses gluco tabs to manage his energy levels and not carbs. He had a detailed explanation to do with The energy system - Phosphagen... creatine in the muscle.... ATP and a source of instant energy. told me to read into The aerobic System, Anaerobic system ..... really advanced stuff so over the next few days, I have my research cut out.
 
My trouble is that I did all that research years ago, got diagnosed 6 months ago and now have to relearn the application to suit current conditions.
 
Runsweet is a great website with information specifically for exercising with diabetes. Lots of good reading there.

My bloods are always better with consistent running. In the last year I started working away during the week and joined a running club for a bit of socialising. They are a serious bunch and I am now heavily into interval training. It's anaerobic so instead of lowering my bloods I now inject insulin during the session to keep them down! If I go out and plod at my own pace it drops.

Very fascinating stuff when you get into the guts of it.
 
It just goes to prove what a positive effect exercise has on diabetes control, good numbers Omnipod and hope they continue
 

to be honest I found RunSweet to be only scratching the surface, I've worked out a lot more through my own trial and error and looking for specifci research papers
 
So just started CGM and just playing with doses and food to get it all a lot flatter….when I step in and add some proper exercise to my regime (I am active during the day - but not aerobic active more the walking loads active!) will I have to try and squish it in everyday for maximum effect or could every other day work, and just 30 mins, or could 15 make a difference, and I don't want to loose any weight with it (just get fitter!). As you can tell a fairly busy person with lots of other people that I need to sort out too, so I want to make it manageable for me so that I can actually keep it up
 
I find my better control tends to last 24-48 hours depending on duration and level of activity. I aim for 5 sessions a week, of which 4 are 40-60 mins and one is longer 2-3 hours, but then I have some specifics to train for.

As a starting point half an hour 3-4 times a week is likely to make a good difference if you can manage it
 
Thank you ElyDave….I will work on that as a plan then once I am feeling confident with my CGM and want to add another factor into the equation
 
i have been reading an interesting study:

Just getting out there and exercising on a regular basis will lower insulin resistance, and thus improve your health by reducing metabolic disease. The results also suggest the amount of time spent exercising may be an important part of improving the body’s response to glucose. Insulin resistance was improved by 25% going from no exercise to 60 minutes of exercise per day. It improved 50% from no exercise to 120 minutes of exercise. It could be that the stimulus for improved glucose metabolism requires glucose utilization.
Also, good insulin sensitivity will help you achieve greater results in the gym, so it’s important even for people already fit and looking to get even more fit.

This all makes sense to me now. The more cardio i do, the more sensitive and responsive I become to insulin which is why running for 30 mins a day gives me better control for the next 24 hours. This also explains why my body's response to glucose is so much faster than before. If I do hypo, I have a bit of lucozade and my blood sugar goes up really fast.

If your taking huge amounts of insulin then its highly likely that your building up a resistence because your not doing enough cardio. If your hypos last too long or require vast amounts of glucose when treating them, then you need to start doing some cardio.
 
I googled so many sites....on insulin resistence and excercise. sorry i dont have the link. I spent an hour or so reading various websites and then just cut and pasted this.
sorry Dave
 
Love this thread.
I am really into cardio- have been since diagnosis, 2 years ago. I find it the most effective way to keep BG under control.
If I do more than 2 days in a row with 45-60 mins of intense cardio per day I barely need any rapid acting insulin (I also stick to a low gi diet)
I find the effects last around 24 hours. Can cause hypos in night sometimes though.- with glucose still burning off hours after excersise- it is sometimes tricky to alter slow acting- I don't really have a regular dose- I have to alter it a lot depending on exercise.


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I agree, exercise is just as important as diet I think but many just focus on food and are missing out on the power of cardio !
 
The nice thing about a pump is that you can reduce your basal (background) insulin. I usually reduce my basal rate by 25% for 4 hours after doing my cardio and then for the rest of the day, Im staying around 6-8. So far today is the 3rd day that Ive had such good readings. Im going to keep at it and hopefully ill be able to reduce my insulin dosages even more as I become more insulin sensitive.
Keeping my carb intake to a max of 40grams per meal and using glucose as energy for cardio. Looks like its working for me.
 
Because of doing daily cardio exercise, my levimir intake has reduced a lot as the cardio brings my levels down I don't have to take much nova rapid either as I'm quite active throughout the day! A weight session however, I have to inject slightly more as weights increase my sugar levels. I would definitely recommend exercise for anyone with diabetes!


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