# What activity causes the biggest drop in bg levels for you??



## mikep1979

i have found if i play football my levels are ok, but if i swim they go low. now running doesnt seem to affect them to bad, but squash does and so does rugby. so i was wondering folks what the worst activity for your bg levels??


----------



## tracey w

Does drinking alcohol count as an activity?? Only joking.

I find activity generally, but funnily enough, housework! Especially hoovering, mopping my wooden floors  especially? Light housework ok. And obviously running on my treadmill though not always??


----------



## Northerner

Haven't done much recently (looks out of window and understands why!), but last summer I found that gardening caused my BG to plummet. With my running there's hardly a blip.


----------



## Anthony Neve

for me its rowing. i can push as much weight as i like and it hardly budges, but 15 mins on the rower and it can drop from 12 to 4.0!


----------



## bev

Alex loves swimming - but - one time before he was 15 and swam for 45 minutes and went to 3.2.
Another time he was 10 before and we gave him a cereal bar before and when he came out he was 23.9!
If anyone has any tips for us it would be welcomed - his DN is having a think about what the best thing would be for him to do. Bev


----------



## aymes

I find usual exercise, running etc, is fine but those things that I don't automatically think of as exercise have a big effect. Things like housework or shopping. The biggest drop was probably moving house.


----------



## MarcLister

Walking from the train station in Milton Keynes to the MK shopping centre in the cold does it for me. That and waiting ages at MK station for a late train back home. Was 6 when I went out. 2-3 hours later it was 2.8 or something quite silly.

Will now take a bus to MK. Drops me off at the shopping centre and although it takes longer to get to MK than the train, the time I spend walking to the train station here and from MK up to the shopping centre adds up to the same time as the bus. 

Just a case of learning for me.


----------



## emma1972

Bev I think it depends on the type of exercise and whether it is aerobic or anaerobic. If I can remember correctly when you work harder and have anaerobic exercise glycogen is released which increases your blood sugars and if it is aerobic like brisk walking slow jogging you can go low. I don't really recall the science part and Im sure I will be corrected if Im wrong but I think thats the general rule of thumb.

I go low when I do my monthly supermarket shop but not when I pound the treadmill which is a shame cos Id love an excuse not to do the treadmill.

Emma


----------



## anon

For me, gardening and cycling make my bg drop significantly. Cold weather and hot weather also have an effect, both making my bg drop like a stone, which can be a bit confusing.


----------



## Northerner

emma1972 said:


> ...I go low when I do my monthly supermarket shop but not when I pound the treadmill which is a shame cos Id love an excuse not to do the treadmill.
> 
> Emma



Emma - take to the streets! I'd never used a treadmill in 20-odd years of running, but when I was recovering from a broken femur I thought it sensible to exercise in the presence of others at the gym (in case it snapped again).

I was really surprised at what hard work it was, not just because I was unfit at the time, but because keeping yourself on that narrow little moving platform requires constant re-balancing and concentration that you're probably not aware of. It's also mind-numbingly boring!!! But you already know that!


----------



## mikep1979

to true northerner, i find treadmills so boring!!! nothing better than the great outdoors to run. fresh air, changing scenes are a bonus to. i hate to stand in a gym and run for hours only to go no where lol


----------



## emma1972

Northerner

The only women that take to the streets round here aint doing it for keep fit purposes!  But seriously I think youre right, I spent 5 years in the Armed Forces and I loved going running across fields and countryside, alas I was so much younger then.....


----------



## mikep1979

what regiment where you in emma?? i spent time in the forces to.


----------



## Northerner

emma1972 said:


> Northerner
> 
> The only women that take to the streets round here aint doing it for keep fit purposes!  But seriously I think youre right, I spent 5 years in the Armed Forces and I loved going running across fields and countryside, alas I was so much younger then.....



I know, it's a great shame. My former partner really enjoyed running but would only ever go in my company (not that I would ever scare anyone off!).


----------



## Caroline Wilson

House work in general helps keep mine lower than being at work, but haven't tried it by specific activity. Although I don't nibble at work I am in one place for longer than when I am home. Even on a lazy day at home my BG is lower than at work, must be stress causing the highs....


----------



## sofaraway

housework especially hoovering, still doesn't mean I get out of doing it though.
Moving house last 2 times has caused a hypo. 
Sports wise, badminton drops me alot.


----------



## mikep1979

dont find the housework causes me any problems (may be due to the fact i dont do much house work as my partner says im rubbish at it) lol but squash last night killed me!!!! have had a cold for a few days tho


----------



## Caroline Wilson

I'm rubbish at house work too Mikep. Still have to do or it wont get done. If I don't do it I can't moan that no one else does any. I always start witht he statement if you don't want me to have a hypo you'll help aand finish with a sweet treat just to make sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## emma1972

Mike

I was in The RAMC from October 1990 to October 1995

Emma


----------



## mikep1979

cool emma, im an ex para myself


----------



## emma1972

Mike
Respect!


----------



## mikep1979

you still in touch with any of your old reg emma??


----------



## Copepod

QARANC(V) 4 years in early 1990s. Only resigned because hoping to emigrate, but got diabetes instead while overseas, so came back with options somewhat limited, and couldn't rejoin TA.


----------



## emma1972

mikep1979 said:


> you still in touch with any of your old reg emma??


Yeh some of them, there was a reunion in London last year. I married one of them too.


----------



## Northerner

emma1972 said:


> Yeh some of them, there was a reunion in London last year. I married one of them too.



That's carrying 'keeping in touch' to extremes!


----------



## mikep1979

lol i have lost touch with most of the guys i served with but i do stay in contact with a few very good mates i found when i joined up lol but i never got married to any of them


----------



## Sue P

For me, badminton and swimming drop it fast. I've been in the middle of a game of badminton and found I had to stop. Now I try and have a wholemeal sandwich before I start and sip lucozade or similar between games.


----------



## mikep1979

hi sue,

i have found in the past that lots of sports did me no harm, but as i have said on here it is now squash and swimming in a big way lol. im not the greatest swimmer and find that my partner will do 3-4 laps to my 1!!!! she swims like a bloody fish!!!! now squash is bad for me to as my mate used to represent our county at schools level and is a member of the local squash team so he is a decent player and runs me all round the court. i love nothing better than getting out for a good few miles running though and find it doesnt drop my bg so bad and it relaxes me really well too.


----------



## HelenM

Almost any exercise from housework to running and even just shopping  seems to cause me a rapid drop, it was the main reason my doctors suggested having a pump ( I'm not in the UK) It still happens though because I'm not always organised enough to lower my basal an hour before.
Fortunately, it only takes a glucose tablet or two to bring it back up. 
The most  difficulty I have had with keeping levels up was when I did a long distance walk last year (about 200km) with a backpack. I wasn't on a pump then and from the third day, in spite of cutting insulin doses in half  and seemingly stuffing myself with carbs, I was  still having several hypos a day.


----------



## Copepod

Sorry, Mike - it's just that females have a bit more fat, so float higher in the water, so it's easier for us to swim. My partner, who doesn't have diabetes and is usually much fitter than me, gets frustrated when we swim together in a pool - it's the only time I can beat him at anything!


----------



## benniesmum

*how low*

I was quite relieved to see this forum! I'm recently diagnosed with T2 and taking  Metformin. Today, I went from 13.6 to 2.7 after just an hour in the gym. Quite shock, as this is the first sub 7 score I've had. (I started at 17.9 3 weeks ago). After lunch it went back up to 12.4. 

Is this normal for a T2 not taking insulin?


----------



## Einstein

Clearing 8 tons of felled trees (having felled them myself) from the garden by hand to make it suitable for my hearing dogs arrival didn't help much! 

Hit a 3.1 which is not comfortable for me - learnt after the second or was it the third that regular breaks and snacks didn't half assist.

Otherwise, I find I am fine while in the water, but when I get out I can be in poor state, I usually take 50g carb before I swim, my pace isn't too bad, a mile in just under 30 minutes - breast stroke. So I guess in reality I'm burning quite a lot.


----------



## mikep1979

wow looks like a lot of us are all finding it tough to gauge the amount of carbs to use before exercise. i went for a longish run (12ish miles) on saturday and i found that i didnt need half the carbs i had eaten so i was still a little high when i got back. but on sunday i went swimming with my partner and i only did about 10 laps and needed to have some glucose. swimming really isnt my sport so i guess i will just have to steer clear of it.


----------



## Freddie99

Before I do sport more often than not I reduce my dosage of short acting insulin alot. Sometime I take more than half of the dose off what I normally take. Talking of exercise I must get out onto the hills over the next few weeks. I'm out of shape and it would do me some favours to get back into shape.

Tom H


----------

