Type 1: Would exercise help improve overall blood sugar control?.

[static192]

hey im wanted to ask does anyone have experience in exercise helping them improve there sugar levels and overall hba1c?. my friend is telling me that exercise will help me improve my overall sugar level my hba1c im a type 1 also i seem to insulin resistane aswell being type 1 but im not sure if this is true as i dont know many other type 1s. reason i ask this im trying to find other ways of improving my diabetes.

 

[catapillar]

Exercise will help with insulin resistance. But do you know if you are insulin resistant? Your previous posts have said sometimes insulin works fine for you and sometimes there is a delay? Maybe there is an issue with lipohypertrophy or with the insulin use.d.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi, exercise seems to affect people differently. Whilst it is always good for general health, in my case more strenuous exercise raises my levels. Walking just keeps them level - neither up nor down. I'm type 2 and not on any medication. You may find it is different for you.

 

[azure]

hey im wanted to ask does anyone have experience in exercise helping them improve there sugar levels and overall hba1c?. my friend is telling me that exercise will help me improve my overall sugar level my hba1c im a type 1 also i seem to insulin resistane aswell being type 1 but im not sure if this is true as i dont know many other type 1s. reason i ask this im trying to find other ways of improving my diabetes.

Exercise can both raise and lower BS, depending on the person and the circumstances.

However, exercise is good for general health and can help insulin sensitivity.

You seem to have a lot going on at the moment with your Type 1. If there are other problems, I'd think it would be best to try to sort those first as if you have some underlying problem you may not get the full benefit of exercise.

 

[samantha13]

As I said on your other post exercise definitely helps with my insulin resistance. I walk. At first it raises my bg slightly but it evens out and I don't spike so much after meals the rest of the day. My dsn told me walking woukd be the first thing to help me and I wished I'd started sooner. I think not exercising was a major contributor to me developing insulin resistance. If you are insulin resistant metformin may help. I'm on it as well as my insulin regime.

 

[noblehead]

hey im wanted to ask does anyone have experience in exercise helping them improve there sugar levels and overall hba1c?.

I would like to think it's a combination of things, good diet, bolus timings, correct basal and exercise, exercise alone won't improve much if the other factors and not in place.

 

[therower]

@static192 . Exercise in all its many guises is hugely beneficial to everyone not just diabetics.
Exercise is a single link in the chain of life, as we all know a weak link will make the chain weak.
But here we have a bit of a conundrum.
Stress can make exercise difficult to undertake, but exercise is great for relieving stress.
A poor dietary regime hinders quality exercise, but exercise can promote positivity and focus on healthy diets.
Blood sugar levels that are not within range make exercise almost impossible, but regular exercise makes blood sugar control better and easier ( BS levels need careful monitoring during exercise especially if you starting out on a new exercise regime. BS levels can fluctuate greatly during and after exercise ) Ultimately with knowledge of how exercise affects you and your diabetes you should see and feel far better control.
Figure out what exercise you enjoy, put time and effort in and reap the benefits.

 

[Karenchq]

I agree with the others and want to reinforce the importance of experimentation and frequent testing while exercising. I was diagnosed T1 in March 2016 at 50 years old. My doctor thinks that I had a very long honeymoon period of about 10 years with the extended time due to exercise. I first noticed hypos 10 years ago of during exercise and at that time was diagnosed boarder-line T2 diabetic (my mother had T2) and dismissed. Other times, I would be very sluggish which I attributed to laziness and would make myself get exercise as that made me feel better. I am certainly no expert on diabetes, but I think that in my case the loss of beta cells was very gradual and that the exercise kept my blood sugars from consistently being high. Now that I have bored you with my medical history, let me get to my exercise program and how it affects my blood sugar. Over these 10 years, I have been active with hiking, mountain climbing and walking marathons, so consistently exercising to keep in reasonable form. I must purposely let my blood sugar get to around 10 mmol/l before exercising and eat about 40-50grams of carbs every two hours to keep from dropping below 4.5 mmol/l. I came to know what is necessary for me by experimentation and frequent blood sugar testing. It is a pretty fine line and if I get it wrong it is difficult not to hypo. It is different for everyone, so test your blood sugar frequently, keep records and always have something with you to treat hypos.

 

[nickm]

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death and disability among diabetics.
Consider the effect of exercise on CVD, not just HbA1c or weight.

 

[Tophat1900]

Whether you are diabetic or not, exercise will help with your overall health. Light exercise or more intense is up to you, assuming you are medically fit to do so. Walking for an hour with the dog and weights for me. Walking has a mild lowering effect for me, but weights have a huge lowering effect. The key to exercise is being consistent and finding a form of exercise you will enjoy doing.

 

[qe5rt]

It somewhat decreases my need for fast acting insulin and a higher lean muscle mass increases insulin sensitivity. Lean muscle mass isn't only big bulgy muscles. Endurance sports act upon a different muscle fiber (slow twitch) which barely has any potential for growth but is still there.

Furthermore the type of energy system you're using has a different short term effect on your BS but overall regardless of the short term effect the long term effect will be positive in most cases. But as has been mentioned your insulin regime and exercise regime have a near symbiotic relationship, the later will not negate a bad insulin regime.

HIIT has been found to have a longer lasting positive effect especially in type 2's but also with type 1's. For me it gives a small spike directly after but a drop shortly after and basically stable levels for a good while. I try to incorporate HIIT 3x a week, it only takes about 10-15 minutes. Furthermore HIIT increases your VO2 max which is always beneficial and high intensity workouts count as double towards your weekly required exercise.

Lastly an excerpt for examine.com

Aerobic Exercise (Ex. Jogging)
Aerobic exercise, or exercise that you can maintain for a prolonged period of time, seems to be able to acutely improve insulin resistance by increasing uptake of glucose into cells. It can increase insulin sensitivity immediately, as a session of 25-60 minutes (at 60-95% VO2 max) for 3-5 days.[10]Improvements can also be seen after a week of aerobic training, when doing mostly 2 short sessions of 25 minutes of walking at 70% VO2 max.[11] Interestingly, the opposite is also true. Voluntary restriction of activity or a drastic increase in sedentary activity can reduce insulin sensitivity in as little as 2 weeks.[12]

Over the long term, aerboic exercise done routinely can preseve beneficial changes in insulin sensitivity.[13]

Insulin sensitivity as a result of exercise can occur independent of weight loss.[9][14] This is not to say that aerobic exercise will not lead to weight loss, as it may.[15] The function of weight loss seems to be a blend of activity and diet, whereas insulin sensitivity increases could occur without changes in the diet.

In regards to hepatic insulin resistance, it has been seen over time periods of 12 weeks light aerobic activity[16][9] but studies lasting 1 week have sometimes noted no difference.[11]


Anaerobic Exercise (Ex. Weightlifting)
Strength exercises (lifting weights usually) is also associated with increasing insulin sensitivity as well as increased muscle mass.[17]

In persons with impaired glucose tolerance, more sets of an exercise tend to be more effective than single sets and higher intensities better than moderate.[18]

The general idea of exercise is that you want to have lean (muscle) mass, and you want it to contract somewhat regularly so it can take up glucose. The more properly functioningmuscle mass one has, the better peripheral insulin sensitivity is

 

[Chandradev819]

I feel exercise is the mandatory for every person. Before 7 months when i was diagnosed with T1 i was taking 70 unit insulin in whole day, but after taking diabetic friendly food and doing average exercise, my insulin dose has come 1 unit now. If i donot go for morning exercise my glucose level will go out of control, i have to increase the insulin dose. So i feel doing exercise at morning in fresh air is like taking free medicine for me.

 

[Snapsy]

I have noticed feeling better than I have done in years when I started exercising regularly for the first time in my life aged 40 and a half. I'm now 42 and feeling grrrrrrrrreat.

In the same time period my glucose control HAS improved, but I can't necessarily put that down to the exercise. You seem getting my pump, my Freestyle Libre and starting to exercise all happened within the same 10-month time period. To be honest I think my type 1 benefits from all three of those factors.