Should I Exercise if My Blood Sugar is High?

The answer to the title question is "Maybe," because exercise reduces high blood sugar levels. Activity makes your body use more glucose. Having consistently high blood sugar levels means you are diabetic. Diabetics often take medication to manage their blood sugar. Lowering high blood sugar with exercise means using less medication. Knowing how to test your blood glucose and urine ketones helps you to safely exercise so you can better manage high blood sugar levels and improve your health.

Testing

• Prior to beginning any exercise program, consult your doctor. Before starting any exercise, test your blood sugar. A blood sugar lower than 250 milligrams per deciliter indicates that you can safely exercise even though this blood sugar level is high. A normal fasting blood sugar is 80-120 milligrams per decileter. Eating before testing your blood sugar changes what you consider normal. In this case, your normal blood sugar runs in the 150 milligrams per deciliter range. Blood sugars greater than 250 milligrams per decileter(mg/dl) necessitate testing your urine for ketones.
  Having a high blood glucose level of over 300mg/dl indicates that you should not exercise because of the risk of ketoacidosis.
  Wait for you blood sugar level to drop to under 250 mg/dl.

Risks

• Excess ketones in your urine indicate inadequate insulin in your blood. Because of this, your body burns fat for energy. Ketones in your blood are the by-product of this process, which in turn raises your risk of ketoacidosis, a serious problem of diabetes needing immediate treatment. It might lead to a diabetic coma or even death. Exercise only after your urine ketones are low.
  Increased blood sugar has many health risks, so keep your blood sugar level under 250 mg.\/dl.

Benefits

• Exercise benefits a person with diabetes in several important ways.
  Exercise improves insulin sensitivity. This lowers blood glucose levels, because exercising muscles need more glucose to meet their energy needs. Regular exercise helps you avoid continued high levels of blood glucose Exercising regularly assists you in losing weight. You feel and look better. Extra weight causes decreased insulin sensitivity. Less weight means that insulin removes excess glucose more efficiently. Reduced weight means reduced complications from high blood sugar.

Types

• Aerobic exercise, works your muscles, increases your breathing rate, and elevates your heart rate. Exercising five days a week for 30 minutes per workout is best. Check with your doctor to make sure.
  Strength training helps build strong muscles and strong bones. More muscle means you burn more calories, even at rest.
  Dr. Ron Siegal, an endocrinologist at the University of Calgary and co-author of the study in a September 2007 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggests both aerobic and weight training exercise improves blood sugar levels in diabetics at twice the rate of those doing just one type of exercise.