Monitoring Blood Sugar

An important part of exercising with high blood sugar is monitoring your blood sugar levels. As
we mentioned, you must first talk with your doctor to get an okay to move forward with any
exercise program.

You also want to ask him or her when you should exercise. This is especially important for those that take insulin. You may need to change the time that you exercise or the time that you take
this medication to avoid complications.

For the first few times that you exercise, it is essential that you test your blood sugar often
to make sure that you know how your body is responding to the exercise. You need to do this
three different times:

• First before you begin exercising or warming up
• Second during exercise
• Third after you have exercised and done a cool down

This will help you to monitor for potentially fatal blood sugar movements up or down.

It is first important to test your blood sugar prior to exercising. For those taking insulin, do
this twice. About half an hour before you begin to exercise test your blood sugar, then do it
again right before exercising. This gives you a clear indication that your blood sugar is stable
and allowable for exercise.

If it is lower than 100 mg/dL, it is likely that it is too low to exercise right now. In this
case, take a small carbohydrate snack such as fruit or crackers before you begin exercising. For
those with 100 to 250 mg/dL, this is a good sign and allowable for exercise.

If your blood sugar falls at 250 mg/dL or higher, then you must be very cautious. Test your
urine for ketones which will tell you if the body has enough insulin to control your blood sugar.
If it is high do not exercise as this can cause a serious condition known as ketoacidosis.
Instead, wait to see the level of ketones drop.

If your blood sugar level is 300 mg/dL or higher then this is much too high and exercise should
not be considered. Wait until it is much lower to get started.

For those that do get to exercise, it is also important to check your blood sugar levels during a
long exercise regimen. This means every 30 minutes you should consider checking your blood
sugar.

This is important if you are extending a routine, trying something new or are completely
new to exercising.

For those that have a blood sugar that drops to 70 mg/dL or lower, or those that feel shaky or
weak, confused or nervous, stop exercising. Your blood sugar level has potentially dropped too
low. You should try to raise it through eating ½ cup of fruit juice, by taking two to three
glucose tablets or by eating some hard candy or drinking ½ cup of soda, not diet.

Test your blood sugar again at this point to make sure it has elevated before continuing with
your exercise regimen. It should be over 70 mg/dL before you get back to exercising again.
Finally, it is important to find out how your body did by checking your blood sugar levels after
you workout as well.

As soon as you stop exercising, test your blood sugar level. You should also check it several
times over the course of two to three hours. This is essential for a number of reasons.
When your body exercises or is told to work hard, it must use the reserved sugars in your muscles
and in the liver to fuel the demand. After you complete your exercise regimen, it must rebuild
those reserves. To do this, it pulls the sugars from your blood. This is the benefit that you
want to see, too.

The harder you are able to workout, the longer the length of time will be that your body needs to
do this and therefore the lower your blood sugar will be doing those times. Yet, it could drop
too low, which is why it’s important to monitor it over time.