# Exercise and BG please explain



## Lilies (Jun 6, 2011)

As only 4 days since diagnosis T2 am dipping in and out of forum pages. Told by GP plenty of exercise will help....
What is a good amount each day to help the BG levels?
Is it better in one amount or two small?
Is a good brisk walk enough?
Ive read about people taking walks after eating something they shouldnt, can someone please explain how this works... altho i have no intention of eating anything naughty for a while whilst i try to lose weight and get stable..


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## Mark T (Jun 6, 2011)

My understanding is, that it is at least 30 minutes of brisk walking on at least 5 days per week.  By brisk they mean enough to raise you heart rate.  It does not have to be contiguous.

I generally have a pedometer and I attempt to get at least 5000 steps per day and ideally for about half of that to register as "aero" (which is >1 step per second).

It's supposed to lower your BG because by exercising your insulin resistance drops and the glucose can get absorbed by the muscles easier.  The heart rate is important because the heart is one of larger muscles in your body.


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## Copepod (Jun 6, 2011)

The definition of brisk walking that was taught on my Health Walks training session was fast enough to raise pulse, raise temperature, so you might want to take off a layer, and increase breathing rate, but not so you're too out of breath to carry on a conversation. 

Doesn't matter if it's in one go or several - but don't stop just because you've done 30 minutes exercise or 5000 or 10000 steps in one day! 30 mins per day 5 days a week is the minimum; more is better.


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## DickBarton (Jun 11, 2011)

How fit are you now? If you are already doing exercise then it might not need much 'adjusting'...exercise does help - obviously keeps you (or helps you) from being overweight, the feel-good factor of exercise helps give a general positive buzz about you and the exercise will help keep your blood levels down (assuming you don't do some daft stuff (like eat 4 Creme Eggs before a cycle then make it 500 yards from the door and have the bike fail (then not take some extra insulin to counter the 4 Creme Eggs) - not sure who did that but I had a belter of a headache for a few hours as my bloods were sky high!).

Exercise isn't the silver bullet to fix it all, but it will certainly help get you better controlled over a period of time. Initial adjustments to exercise and diabetes are likely to give you some big highs and lows until you learn what works for you so don't expect wonders to begin with but likewise, don't use Diabetes as an excuse not to exercise...no need to stop exercise just because you have diabetes...there are far worse things to have...


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## Lilies (Jun 11, 2011)

Fitness is ok but can get much better whilst I've been so tired as levels adjust just v brisk walking but hope to build up once more energy


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## Lilies (Jun 11, 2011)

Meant to say when I came back from brisk walk today I tested and bf levels had risen


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## everydayupsanddowns (Jun 11, 2011)

Lilies, do you know what level you were to start with? If you exercise fairly strenuously (heart rate raised to 'cardio' levels i think) while already high, say 14+, it can lead your body to sense that glucose is not making it into the cells fast enough and trigger glucose release from the muscles. This may not gave been the case for you today, bit it is worth bearing in mind. It's one of the reasons that t1s need to make sure they have some insulin circulating during exercise, and then allow for the increased sensitivity.


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