Managing Your Blood Sugar Levels Through Exercise

Do you suffer with high blood sugar or diabetes? If you do, then you might be struggling with keeping your blood sugar levels as low as your doctor would like them to be. If you’re eating well and taking your medications as directed but not getting results, then you may be missing a key element; exercise. Sure, you may not enjoy exercising, but it can truly help you to manage your diabetes and regain control over your life.

So, you may be wondering, how does exercise lower blood sugar levels? People who suffer from diabetes are not able to produce enough insulin or their body is not capable of using the insulin that their body produces. Here is where exercise steps in as regular exercise helps the body to properly process sugar in your blood by transporting it to your cells where it is needed. This means that regular exercise actually makes your body respond better towards the insulin in your blood stream causing your blood sugar levels to maintain normal levels. Exercise can even help people who have type 2 diabetes to reverse their condition!

By becoming physically active, you can reap many health rewards that are not only related to regulating your blood sugar levels. People who suffer from diabetes have a much higher risk of developing other medical issues and exercise can help to reduce and even negate some of these potential issues. Exercise can help to reduce blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, improve circulation, lead to weight loss, promote good HDL cholesterol, reduce your stress levels, and strengthen the heart, bones and muscles.

The benefits of exercise are innumerable; however, if you suffer from high blood sugar or diabetes, then you need to be careful when exercising. The main reason for this is because if you exercise when your blood sugar is too high or low, it can lead to hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Therefore, you should test your blood sugar levels before you exercise and right after you exercise so you can monitor and learn about the effect it has on your body.

Hypoglycemia will occur if your blood sugar levels drop too low and some of the symptoms you will experience include: dizziness, irritability, weakness and you may also feel shaky or unstable. In order to reduce the possible effects of hypoglycemia when exercising, be sure to have a healthy snack nearby that you can eat if you start to feel any of these symptoms.

Alternatively, if your blood sugar is too high, then you could suffer from hyperglycemia. It is important that you don’t exercise if you have high blood sugar as your body will start to break down fat when there isn’t any insulin available for it to use. This will produce ketones which are quite dangerous. Therefore, you should test for the presence of ketones in your blood before exercising, and if you do find them, then you should definitely hold off on exercising for the while.

In closing, once you keep the above tips in mind, then exercise can be a truly helpful tool in helping you control your blood sugar. Sure, it may not initially be fun, but you can make it more interesting by taking part in physical activities you enjoy. These include hiking, jogging or simply playing with your children or grandchildren. Remember, your health is in your hands, so make the right choices and you will reap the rewards.

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