Plan Your Exercise

What you eat and when also depend on how much you exercise. Exercise is an important part of staying healthy and controlling your blood glucose. Physical activity should be safe and enjoyable, so talk with your doctor about what types of exercise are right for you.

You should avoid some kinds of physical activity if you have certain diabetes complications and your health care provider can tell you which kinds of physical activity would be best for you. Exercise involving heavy weights may be bad for people with blood pressure, blood vessel, or eye problems. Diabetes related nerve damage can make it hard to tell if you’ve injured your feet during exercise, which can lead to more serious problems. Fortunately, there are many different ways to get exercise.

Physical activity can lower your blood glucose too much, causing hypoglycemia, especially in people who take insulin or certain oral medications. Hypoglycemia can happen at the time you’re exercising, just afterward, or even up to a day later. You can get shaky, weak, confused, irritable, anxious, hungry, tired, or sweaty. You can get a headache, or even lose consciousness.

To help prevent hypoglycemia during physical activity, check your blood glucose before you exercise. If it's below 100, have a small snack. In addition, bring food or glucose tablets with you when you exercise just in case. It is not good for people with diabetes to skip meals at all, but especially not prior to exercise. After you exercise, check to see how it has affected your blood glucose level.

If you take insulin, ask your health care provider if there is a preferable time of day for you to exercise, or whether you should change your dosage before physical activity, before beginning an exercise regimen.

You should not exercise when your blood glucose is very high because your level could go even higher. Do not exercise if your blood glucose is above 300, or your fasting blood glucose is above 250 and you have ketones in your urine.

Whatever kind of exercise you do, here are some special things that people with diabetes need to follow are:

1. Take care of your feet. Wear cotton socks and athletic shoes that fit well and are comfortable and make sure your shoes fit properly and your socks stay clean and dry. Check your feet for redness, blisters, irritation, cuts, or other injuries or sores after exercising. Call your doctor if you have sores that do not heal.
2. Drink about 2 cups of water before you exercise, about every 20 minutes during exercise, and after you finish, even if you don’t feel thirsty, since your blood glucose can be affected by dehydration.
3. Warm up and cool down for 5 to 10 minutes before and after exercising. For example, walk slowly at first, then walk faster. Finish up by walking slowly again.
4. Test your blood glucose before and after exercising. Do not exercise if your fasting blood glucose level is above 300. Eat a small snack if your blood glucose is below 100.