Sports and diabetes

[Alicki]

Hi,

Could anyone explain to me how sports effects diabetes.. Whats the relationship?

Thanks,
Alicki

 

[CarbsRok]

Hi,

Could anyone explain to me how sports effects diabetes.. Whats the relationship?

Thanks,
Alicki

In what context? Exercise is good for everyone

 

[Alicki]

How does sport effect blood sugar? I find that if i measure blood sugar before and after, its lower after sports

 

[Alicki]

Just Want to understand mechanism

 

[catapillar]

So, your question is how does exercise effect blood sugar?

Your body uses sugar for energy, if your exercising the sugar will be moved from your blood, into your cells and burned for energy needed to do the exercise = lower blood sugar.

However, if you are intensely exercising, your body might release other hormones in response to the stress of the exercise, this might temporarily increase insulin resistance and mean you end up with slightly higher blood sugar post-exercise.

 

[Lamont D]

So, your question is how does exercise effect blood sugar?

Your body uses sugar for energy, if your exercising the sugar will be moved from your blood, into your cells and burned for energy needed to do the exercise = lower blood sugar.

However, if you are intensely exercising, your body might release other hormones in response to the stress of the exercise, this might temporarily increase insulin resistance and mean you end up with slightly higher blood sugar post-exercise.

In my experience and from my investigating into how to get good blood control. It can be the opposite, depending on how your body gains the glucose and how it dispenses glucose, glucagon and glycogen. Also how your hormones react to exercise stimulus.
We all have different metabolic rates and how much food to help with exercise.
If you are in ketosis, I think you are @Alicki , then your energy converts from muscle rather than carbs and sugars (glucose).
There is a lot of different views on how best to get the real benefits from exercise, where somebody who trains to be super fit can find it difficult to lose weight, whereas someone who just goes for a half hour walk will be trim and never suffer from weight gain.
I'm one because of those who doesn't do excessive exercise but works hard and walks and walks, then relaxes, if I want to lose weight, I can fast and being in ketosis should always be able to kick start my weight loss.

Exercise should be enjoyable no matter how you do it!
Be careful though, as it has been known for those with blood glucose disorders to hypo doing too much!

Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you even more!

 

[Mbaker]

The previous answers are great. We all react differently. I find that aerobic cardio zone static cycling or high intensity training / Taebo / Tabatha classes reduce my readings; in my early post diagnosis stage I could go from say an 8 to a 4.5.

On the other hand anaerobic weight training had on occasion raised my readings, I believe this is called a liver dump, so you might want to research this and measure before and after for the type of workout you do. It is about understanding how your body acts by measurements with a meter. At one stage I was combining cardio and weights in 1 session and ended up burning muscle, which is not good. Now I focus on circuit training, which balances both.

 

[Bebo321]

Hi,

Could anyone explain to me how sports effects diabetes.. Whats the relationship?

Thanks,
Alicki

There are just a few basics to understand

1) Moderate exercise will gradually reduce your blood glucose level (after approx 20mins). This is because glucose (stored as glycogen) in your muscles gradually gets used up, and is replaced by circulating glucose in the blood.
2) Intensive exercise can induce a stress response within the body that triggers the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream. In the absence of circulating insulin (or with insulin resistance) this can result in rising blood glucose levels.
3) In somebody with a normal functioning pancreas, insulin secretion is stopped very soon after exercise commences. This is because insulin can enhance the uptake of glucose by cells out of the bloodstream - so much so that it can lead to a rapid fall in blood glucose levels. Naturally secreted insulin lasts only a matter of minutes in the body, however injected or infused insulin lasts for hours. Consequently, in order to avoid a rapid fall in blood glucose levels, it is better to avoid exercise within two to three hours of injecting/infusing fast acting insulin.
4) On a low carb diet, the body becomes adapted to burning alternative fuels to glucose (for example you will burn a higher proportion of free fatty acids) During exercise, this means that glucose requirements are reduced. The higher the intensity, the less this is the case though, as glucose becomes the preferred source of fuel for muscles at a higher intensity.
5) Exercise (at any intensity) helps mobilise glucose transporters within your muscles. The transporters move to the surface of your cells and increase in number. Because of this, your muscles are more effective at taking glucose out of your bloodstream - hence improving your insulin sensitivity for up to 48hrs after a bout of exercise. Build muscle, and you will have even more transporters able to take glucose out of your bloodstream.

I hope that helps.

 

[Bebo321]

Just Want to understand mechanism

The 'mechanism' is really all about the transporters I mentioned.

Glut4 transporters are one of the mechanisms by which glucose can enter cells in our bodies. They are quite unique in that they are not only mobilised into action by insulin, but they can also be mobilised through muscle contraction.
When somebody develops insulin resistance the effectiveness of Glut4s is compromised - but only with regards to insulin. The transporters are as effective as ever when mobilised through muscle contraction. Consequently, what you are doing when you exercise, is you are encouraging your working muscles to stimulate the movement and proliferation of these transporters to the surface of your cells where they are best placed to enable the transportation of glucose out of the blood and into your working muscles.
These transporters can remain in higher numbers (and at the cell surface) for 24 to 48hrs - resulting in improved insulin sensitivity for hours afterwards.
Greater insulin sensitivity means that the body is more effective at taking glucose out of the bloodstream - leading to lower blood glucose readings.

 

[Alicki]

Hello, thats great, really informative. Im starting to get the hang of this! Thanks so much everyone, you are blessing, Im insulino resistant, not Even pre diabetic but intend to get my full health back before things get worse