# Gardening work



## RayMathers (Apr 11, 2019)

Hi. I've been a diabetic Type 1 for about 1 month now (male 56)
I'm back at work and each evening this week I've been digging and carrying builder buckets of soil in the garden for about 90 minutes. It is fairly strenuous and I work up a bit of a sweat.

On Monday I measured before and after and dropped from about 8.0 to 4.0. Would this be expected? Subsequent nights I just measure after when I was finished and about to eat dinner., it was around the 4 mark again.
I don't eat anything from lunchtime except a few cups of tea, maybe a banana at 4pm,then about 6pm started digging. I'm still unsure how much my BG will be affected by doing this type of work, any comments welcome.
Ray


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## Northerner (Apr 11, 2019)

RayMathers said:


> Hi. I've been a diabetic Type 1 for about 1 month now (male 56)
> I'm back at work and each evening this week I've been digging and carrying builder buckets of soil in the garden for about 90 minutes. It is fairly strenuous and I work up a bit of a sweat.
> 
> On Monday I measured before and after and dropped from about 8.0 to 4.0. Would this be expected? Subsequent nights I just measure after when I was finished and about to eat dinner., it was around the 4 mark again.
> ...


Hi Ray, I find my BG often drops significantly during/after gardening work. You'll probably find that different activities can have different effects on your levels - I can run for several miles without my blood glucose falling by much at all, but walk the same distance and it will inevitably fall! Often it's different due to the type of muscle groups that may be involved, and whether it is of the strength/non-aerobic variety (like heavy lifting) or aerobic variety (like running). We can also have quite individual reactions, so it's important to test frequently as you learn about your own reactions so you can prepare yourself and preempt any lows with the occasional jelly baby  (I'm 60, by the way, diagnosed aged 49)

It's important to bear in mind also that sustained exercise/activities will have an effect on your levels for up to 24 hours afterwards, so if you are using a long acting insulin you may need to consider reductions in doses. It takes a while to get used to everything, but don't ever let it put you off exercising, it is one of the best things you can do to maintain good blood glucose levels over the longer term


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## RayMathers (Apr 11, 2019)

Thanks for this .I used to be a keen cyclist, 60+ miles on a Sunday, as well as gym 2-3 times a week. I stopped for the last year due to injury. I want to start the bike again, doing 10-15 miles initially. Its not fast cycling, maybe average 15mph . What energy supplements and preparations do you do for your running.


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## nonethewiser (Apr 11, 2019)

Gardening walking cycling swimming does the same here, on a pump now so just adjust the insulin, before on injections would have a snack, something like a banana oatbar snicker bar, anything to keep bg up.


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## Northerner (Apr 11, 2019)

RayMathers said:


> Thanks for this .I used to be a keen cyclist, 60+ miles on a Sunday, as well as gym 2-3 times a week. I stopped for the last year due to injury. I want to start the bike again, doing 10-15 miles initially. Its not fast cycling, maybe average 15mph . What energy supplements and preparations do you do for your running.


As I said earlier, it's a very individual thing. I was a runner for decades prior to diagnosis - I was actually due to run the Stockholm Marathon the week I was diagnosed! - so I was keen to get back into it. The main thing is to start slow and do lots of testing. If you can get a Freestyle Libre then that is ideal, although I managed fine with just finger prick tests  I worked out that I needed to inject my insulin and eat at least an hour before setting out on a run, to give the insulin time to get up to speed and for the food to be digesting during my run, so I have both 'available'. Works well for me. One thing to bear in mind is not to begin exercise if your levels are on the high side e.g. 15 mmol/l or over, as the exercise can actually send you higher. I bought a useful book, 'The Diabetic Athlete's Handbook' which describes a lot of the mechanisms at play and how things can vary according to activity intensity and type  

If you are a cyclist, then have a browse through @Matt Cycle 's thread 'Cycling' - it's developed int quite a long thread, but he describes the kind of testing and snacks he does on a ride


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## Matt Cycle (Apr 11, 2019)

Hi Ray.  As Northerner mentions T1 and exercise is very individual in terms of reactions.  The only way to find out how it affects you is to go out and do it.  When cycling as a rule of thumb I try and aim for a blood glucose of 7-10 mmol/l (often easier said than done  ).  I guide myself with what my blood glucose is doing, stopping every 10-20 miles to test.  A Libre would prove very useful in these situations.  On a ride I usually carry cereal bars, gels and occasionally bananas, malt loaf, flapjack etc.  Anything I eat is usually free carbs as it's rare that I need to inject for anything on a ride (I try and avoid it as when I do it often causes more problems than it solves with hypos).  Some 60 mile rides I may only need to have a couple of cereal bars, others times it's several cereal bars and gels - it's quite variable.  

Some people talk of reducing bolus doses before setting off (presumably for the previous meal) but for me the crucial aspect of T1 and exercise is basal.  In time if you go for longer rides you may wish to speak to your diabetes team and consider altering your insulin doses but to begin with I'd keep things as they are and see how you get on.  You need to remember when you get back that blood glucose levels can carry on falling (sometimes through the night and into the next day) as the muscles replace glycogen.  In fact it's a double whammy as the cells become more insulin sensitive as well.  Don't let that put you off though as there's lots of T1's out there doing all sorts of incredible exercise.  Most of all just go out and enjoy it and let us know how you get on.


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## HOBIE (Apr 11, 2019)

Welcome Ray. Well done for being active. Take care though T1 & T2 are very different


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## SB2015 (Apr 12, 2019)

Morning @RayMathers 

Glad return to work has gone well and that you are now working on how to deal with exercise, and that includes walking, gardening, cycling, housework, ...  It is as others have said testing to find out what happens.

Thanks for starting this thread.  I have learnt more about the impact of types of exercise, which I had not known the reason for.  This was mentioned to me last night as well and I was about to post a question about it on here.


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