Mar 06 2009
Blood Glucose Monitoring
Why Diabetics Need A Blood Glucose Monitoring System When Exercising
When you exercise with diabetes you need to be aware of the effect of physical activity on your blood glucose level and of what action to take to avoid the high and low blood glucose levels it can cause. The effect depends on how intense the type of exercise is (how many calories you burn) and how long you exercise for. If you take insulin or tablets to control your diabetes and you exercise intensively or for a long period, you need to be watching your blood glucose monitoring system particularly closely as this will help you take action to prevent your diabetes exercise or specific activity from causing a hypo.
Does it make a difference where on my body I inject insulin before physical activity?
A Yes. If you inject into the limb you will be using, the insulin will enter your circulation much more rapidly. This could cause your blood glucose level to fall too quickly. Choose a different injection site instead. For example, if you are planning a cycle ride, inject your insulin in your buttock or stomach rather than in your leg.
Physical activity and blood glucose level monitoring
When you follow any kind of exercise program you need extra energy. Your body gets the energy it needs by converting the glycogen stored in your liver and muscles back to glucose. It also gets energy from the fat stored around your body
Gentle activity for 10-30 minutes is unlikely to have much effect on your blood glucose level. However, if you are more vigorous, your blood glucose levels will fall because of the extra glucose your muscles are using.
When you stop exercising, your muscles and, to a lesser extent, your liver replace their glycogen stores by taking glucose from your bloodstream.
The longer or more intense the activity, the more glucose is needed to replenish these stores, so your blood glucose level could be affected for several hours.
Mail this post
Related Posts
No related postsNo responses yet