Being physically active is great for diabetes. It can even include small things like moving more when you’re traveling to work or using the stairs instead of the lift. All these small exercises make a huge difference.
We know that the way your diabetes affects you is unpredictable and sometimes even irrational. You are always wondering what you can and can’t do. This makes small achievements important. Even when it comes to being active. Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s something small and new. Or it could be just that little bit more extra of something you already do.
Trying to manage type 1 diabetes through exercise and natural medication is a great way of addressing the issue. It is the best wand the safest way to address both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. However, being affected by diabetes will not let you sleep. It is bound to give you some crazy jitters and nightmares.
Well, do not fear. You’re not alone in this. We can help you get active. It might sound tougher than it looks. But it is definitely not impossible to implement.
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How does exercise affect blood sugars?
Being physically active can affect blood sugar levels in different ways, depending on the type of activity you’re doing.
We know a lot of people don’t want to exercise because it can lower their blood sugars. You might be constantly worried about hypos, and that’s understandable. But did you know that not all types of exercise make your blood sugars go down? Some make them go up too.
Some days you’ll do exactly the same type of activity and eat the same foods, but your blood sugar levels may act differently to what you’d expect. This can be really frustrating, but it’s completely normal. Anything from hormones to the weather can affect your diabetes.
Understanding more about what happens before, during and after you’re active could help ease some of this worry. It also helps to manage how your levels fluctuate.
Also, Read How Yoga for Diabetes Can Actually Help You!
Effects of diabetes include
Diabetes tend to affect you physically as well as psychologically. Let us understand the psychological effects of diabetes on a person.
Tiredness
Diabetes makes you feel tired. It affects your body mechanism at its core. Due tt the inability to consume the glucose, you tend to feel tired. The lethargy gets you and you are always tired. Smallest of activities look like a huge feat and expect the biggest of energy. This can be frustrating and overwhelming.
Lack of sleep
Diabetes affects your sleep. It makes you lose sleep at night. If you manage to sleep, its completely not without nightmares about the side effects. The constant lack of sleep and energy will make you ineffective in the workplace too.
[Also Read How lack of sleep is related to insulin resistance]
Irritation
The hormonal fluctuation will get on your nerves. One minute you are the sweetest person around. The next minute you want to rip their head off. These mood fluctuations are sure to ruin your daily peace of mind and affect people around you too.
Benefits of exercising for diabetes
Some people worry that being physically active will be too tiring or make their diabetes harder to manage.
That’s a lot of worries and they’re all understandable. But we’re here to bust these myths and make sure you know all the important benefits of exercising when you have diabetes.
Benefits of being active with diabetes include:
- assists the body use insulin better
- helps you look after your blood pressure because high blood pressure means you’re more at risk of diabetes complications
- aids to improve cholesterol (blood fats) to help protect against problems like heart disease
- helps you lose weight if you need to, and keep the weight off after you’ve lost it – there are so many more benefits to losing extra weight
- gives you energy and helps you sleep
- aids your joints and flexibility
- benefits your mind as well as your body – exercise releases endorphins, which you could think of as happy hormones. Being active is proven to reduce stress levels and improve low mood.
- and for people with Type 2 diabetes, being active helps improve your HbA1c.
Being active is even more beneficial if you do things like make healthier food choices, don’t smoke, and don’t get enough sleep.
[Also Read How To Prevent Heart Disease In Diabetics]
The best type of exercise for diabetes
Get active at home
When you have diabetes, there are loads of things you can do at home to get active. You can do things like Gardening, Housework, Carrying shopping bags and Stand during a TV ad break. When you’re out and about, it’s surprising how a slight change of routine will increase how active you are. It will help you feel better when you’re living with diabetes. However having a regular set of work out routines, will help you keep your blood sugar levels in check. It will also help you to be more focused and active
Yoga
Yoga is considered to be a promising, cost-effective option in the treatment and prevention of diabetes. Controlling mental stress (stress management) is one of the keys to diabetes treatment. When we’re stressed, our blood sugar levels increase and elevated blood sugar levels increase the chances of serious complications such as heart disease.
Yoga can also treat diabetes, or in the case of type 2 diabetes, prevent the disease from developing by:
- Rejuvenating pancreatic cells – Yoga postures that aid relaxation (asanas) stretch the pancreas, which can stimulate the production of insulin-producing beta cells.
- Exercising the muscles – Like other forms of exercise, yoga increases glucose uptake by muscular cells, which in turn, helps to lower blood sugar levels, improve circulation and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Promoting weight loss – Exercising through yoga can reduce weight and improve weight control, both of which are essential for protecting against conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, as well as diabetes management.
- Improving your mental attitude – Regular yoga practice can help to focus the mind and create the right mental approach to dealing with diabetes.
[Also Read Yoga for Diabetes Can Actually Help You!]
Walking Off Stubborn High SUGAR LEVELS
Walking can also be useful for lowering blood sugars that are staying stubbornly high as a result of stress or mild illness such as colds. If you are on insulin and find it difficult to reduce blood glucose despite increasing your insulin doses, you may find that a period of walking is helpful for getting your glucose levels back closer to normal levels. Note that if you are on insulin, you should test your sugar levels regularly after walking to ensure your blood sugars do not go too low.
[Also Read How to overcome Diabetic Hyperglycemia???]
What to Do at the Gym
If you have type 2 diabetes, the following is recommended:
Moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic (cardiovascular) exercise five times a week. This will increase the breathing and glucose consumption
Strength training at least twice a week. This can include using weight machines, free weights, or resistance bands. You can also use your body weight for resistance (for example, push-ups).
If you’re new to exercise or haven’t worked out in a while, go slow and try doing even 5 to 10 minutes a day. As you get stronger and more fit, you can add a few minutes each day.
Meditation
Meditation will help you to relax in a new way and give you some fresh tools for dealing with stress. Life stress is a big issue for all of us. For those who have diabetes, stress presents at least two problems: The direct effect of stress raises blood glucose levels, and we are most likely to engage in behaviors that are not good for our health when we are stressed. We may tend to eat more high-carbohydrate foods, or sit on the couch and watch TV instead of exercising. When stressed, we tend to become less disciplined and more self-indulgent. Meditation will help you relax. It will help you to manage the blood glucose levels on a conscious level.
Also, Read Diabetes: Here is How to Manage Diabetes with Exercise.
