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Dawn phenomenon and exercise

Lynz84

Well-Known Member
Messages
344
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi Guys

I suffer the dawn phenomenon and cant quite work out if I can exercise in the morning? How do you guys manage this? Do you have breakfast, inject then exercise? Or do you inject before with trial and error with how much to inject?
Sorry for all the questions, any advice is welcome!
 
Why would dawn phenomenon stop you from exercising in the morning? I'm literally at a loss as to why this would be a reason not to exercise. DP is either when the hormone that wake you up in the morning make you insulin resistant in the morning or when your body decides to wake you up with a bit of glucose released from the liver stores or a helpful combination of the 2. You aren't really advised to do strenuous physical activity at levels over 14. So provided you DP isn't seeing you wake up over 14, there's no reason not to exercise in the morning.
 


I disagree with this info.... if you are correcting after DP has occured and having breakfast and bolus or no nrealfast and bolus the exercise can have a significant impact on how much insulin taken for that correction, and what to do on days off if you dont exercise.

OP may well need to set up an exercise bolus reduced for mornings if doing a correction bolus..

It depends on when corrections are being taken pre DP, waking and if eating and if correcting..
 

I'm still at a loss. Sorry. Are you saying dawn phenomen is a reason not to exercise? Or correction boluses taken to deal with dawn phenomenon would need to be dealt with differently on days when exercising?
 
Many many months of trial and error both pre pump and now that I use a pump mean that what works best for me when I swim in the early morning on most weekdays is that I test, have half a unit of insulin before I go to the pool, have nothing to eat, swim (only 400m), then test again afterwards, take my breakfast insulin, go home, have breakfast. The pool is a short drive away (5ish minutes), to put that into some context of time.

Even if I don't swim, I generally take my breakfast insulin very soon after I wake up, before I shower and have breakfast, otherwise I go really high and get really cross.

This is what works for me. But not always, of course. I do have to take into account the 'WT*?' factor that sometimes means it ain't gonna work.

 
So you correct before exercise and then closely monitor? Thsts wat I suspected I will need to do!!!
 
Hi Donnellysdogs. Thanks for this. Just needed some guidance around when to inject. I think il begin with a correction dose, do the exercise, tjen breakfast and breakfast insulin. Pain in the a*se!! Lol
 
Hi Snapsy. Thanks for this!! Do you find swimming an easier exercise to manage than others with regards your dawn phenomenon?
 
Lynz84 said:
Hi Snapsy. Thanks for this!! Do you find swimming an easier exercise to manage than others with regards your dawn phenomenon?
Click to expand...
It's just convenience really - a habit to swim at the crack of dawn! I don't run first thing as I'm scared of the dark and it's spooky out there with no company, so going swimming is a good alternative to that, no other reason really. I time it for when the very early folk have swum and gone, and the later-getter-uppers haven't arrived - so basically I swim then because it works out best for my day, not for my dawn phenomenon! But I've made it work for me, if you see what I mean.

I find it very hard to exercise (swim, gym or run) with mealtime insulin on board. Swimming first thing, before breakfast and with that magic half unit on board, works really well for me. If I go later in the day I find my blood sugars harder to manage.

 
catapillar said:
I'm still at a loss. Sorry. Are you saying dawn phenomen is a reason not to exercise? Or correction boluses taken to deal with dawn phenomenon would need to be dealt with differently on days when exercising?
Click to expand...

@Snapsy has said it a lot better than me!! Unless there are all the varianles stated as to what exercise/how soon/before after eating / correcting it is actually impossible to actually give any advice.. we can only give examples of what we do or have done.....
 
Its what the intention is to do for the OP. If doing before eating breakfast or after breakfast would be different scenarios for me, especially as my levels rise with DP and waking as well.
 
I don't correct for DP if I'm exercising. I know one oatibix and exercise is 1/2 unit and if I'm still high an hour after exercise that's the time to correct.
 
Depends on the exercise. For highly aerobic like running or cycling, I would have a small amount of food with a bolus reduced by 25-50% according to the planned intensity. For bootcamp, I would usually be completely fasting or maybe have 1 jelly baby and then eat later after my shower. I don't normally need to reduce that bolus but might need to reduce at lunchtime.
 
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