Questions regarding exercise/activity

[Bluemarine Josephine]

Hello Everyone,
I hope that you are all doing very well.
I need your suggestions on the following matters which are related to exercise/activity (I know that there is a different forum for this subject but, I thought I’d begin from here).

I have a series of questions.

Lately, I have started to feel slightly more confident regarding exercise so, I started taking up some mild yoga and stretching sessions. Although these type of exercises do not include lifting weights, I wonder if they classify as resistance exercises because, I have noticed that after about 45 minutes of exercise my blood sugar has a rise (not a massive one but, can go from 8.0 mmols to 11.0 mmols..) However, I do see a drop of my blood sugar later on (some 5-8 hours later but, please keep in mind that I have this delayed onset exercise effect.)

Do yoga/stretching/pilates classify as resistance exercises and can they possibly raise blood sugar (for a brief period)?

Secondly, (regarding aerobic exercise)I am wondering about the following: I have read in our forum, posts from other diabetics who estimate that a relatively strenuous activity, like swimming, can create a drop of around 4 mmols (so, for argument’s sake, if someone starts swimming at a bg of 10 mmols, after his/her swimming session their bg will be at 6 mmols.)

What confuses me is this: If I go for a mild walk (like grocery shopping) for 30-45 minutes while my Novorapid is peaking (in between 1.5 – 2.5 hrs after injecting) from a bg of , say, 10 mmols prior the activity, I will easily reach 5 mmols… and the activity is a small relaxed walk.

If I do this during the period that my Novorapid is not in its peak, the drop is of course milder.
And, I wonder… how can someone engage into more strenuous exercise, like swimming, and have only a 4 mmols drop…

Additionally, I wonder, if we all go for the same 45 minutes walk, on the same non-strenuous pace, starting with a bg of 10 mmols, will we all get the same drop? (provided that our basal insulin is well balanced and we haven’t over-estimated our Novorapid). Or, does exercise have a different effect on each one of us so, the amount of exercise which accounts for 4 mmols drop to one of us might translate to 6-7 mmols drop for someone else?

Thank you in advance for your replies.
I wish you all a day filled with marvellous, on point, blood sugar readings!!
Regards and wishes for a pleasant weekend ahead!
Josephine.

 

[tim2000s]

Additionally, I wonder, if we all go for the same 45 minutes walk, on the same non-strenuous pace, starting with a bg of 10 mmols, will we all get the same drop? (provided that our basal insulin is well balanced and we haven’t over-estimated our Novorapid). Or, does exercise have a different effect on each one of us so, the amount of exercise which accounts for 4 mmols drop to one of us might translate to 6-7 mmols drop for someone else?

This, I think @Bluemarine Josephine. I walk a mile to the station every morning at a respectable pace - usually about 12 mins, and it may cause a slight drop on my glucose levels, maybe 0.5-1mmols. Everyone is different, and different exercise types affect each person similarly but differently, if you get what I mean.

You can apply rules of thumb, such as anaerobic exercise typically pushed glucose levels up whilst aerobic typically pushes them down, but no two people will have the same rise or fall. Likewise, you can use these effects to help you manage rises and falls, such as undertaking as short, 100% effort sprint after a period of aerobic exercise to cause blood glucose levels to stabilise.

For most people, and I'd expect the same for you, the best thing to do is to test throughout. If you are likely to be doing something aerobic, start higher and see what the effect is, then consider strategies for changing the effect, such as reducing bolus for a preceding meal, maybe reducing your basal partially. Likewise with anaerobic, you may find that you need an insulin shot to cover the stress related rise that occurs.

Unfortunately, this is one of those areas where testing is critical as we each react slightly differently within the guidacnce that is available.

A couple of examples:

 

[Diakat]

I would say Pilates and yoga will count as resistance as there are lots of planks and moved such as downward dog that involve holding bodyweight in unusual positions. I find that bodyweight exercises can give me a slight rise.

 

[Bebo321]

Hello Everyone,
I hope that you are all doing very well.
I need your suggestions on the following matters which are related to exercise/activity (I know that there is a different forum for this subject but, I thought I’d begin from here).

I have a series of questions.

Lately, I have started to feel slightly more confident regarding exercise so, I started taking up some mild yoga and stretching sessions. Although these type of exercises do not include lifting weights, I wonder if they classify as resistance exercises because, I have noticed that after about 45 minutes of exercise my blood sugar has a rise (not a massive one but, can go from 8.0 mmols to 11.0 mmols..) However, I do see a drop of my blood sugar later on (some 5-8 hours later but, please keep in mind that I have this delayed onset exercise effect.)

Do yoga/stretching/pilates classify as resistance exercises and can they possibly raise blood sugar (for a brief period)?

Secondly, (regarding aerobic exercise)I am wondering about the following: I have read in our forum, posts from other diabetics who estimate that a relatively strenuous activity, like swimming, can create a drop of around 4 mmols (so, for argument’s sake, if someone starts swimming at a bg of 10 mmols, after his/her swimming session their bg will be at 6 mmols.)

What confuses me is this: If I go for a mild walk (like grocery shopping) for 30-45 minutes while my Novorapid is peaking (in between 1.5 – 2.5 hrs after injecting) from a bg of , say, 10 mmols prior the activity, I will easily reach 5 mmols… and the activity is a small relaxed walk.

If I do this during the period that my Novorapid is not in its peak, the drop is of course milder.
And, I wonder… how can someone engage into more strenuous exercise, like swimming, and have only a 4 mmols drop…

Additionally, I wonder, if we all go for the same 45 minutes walk, on the same non-strenuous pace, starting with a bg of 10 mmols, will we all get the same drop? (provided that our basal insulin is well balanced and we haven’t over-estimated our Novorapid). Or, does exercise have a different effect on each one of us so, the amount of exercise which accounts for 4 mmols drop to one of us might translate to 6-7 mmols drop for someone else?

Thank you in advance for your replies.
I wish you all a day filled with marvellous, on point, blood sugar readings!!
Regards and wishes for a pleasant weekend ahead!
Josephine.

Great you're getting more confident with exercise.
With regards to yoga etc causing a BG rise, I would be a bit suspicious of that being down to the activity - only because a BG rise that you are referring to would ordinarily be in response to a significant elevation in heart rate (thus triggering a stress response in the body). That doesn't sound too plausible to me in this circumstance, but you will be a better judge of how hard you are working during the activity.

Unfortunately there is no magic 'formula' to determine the rate of blood glucose fall during an activity, mainly because everybody has differing insulin 'regimes'. Circulating insulin can have a huge impact on what BGs do during exercise. What you can do though is chart your own blood glucose readings in order to build up a pattern of what works for you. Here's a movie to cover off the basics again just to help keep you safe.