8 Exercise Tips to Help Keep Diabetes in Check

Diabetes is a serious health condition that affects the way your body processes sugar. If a diabetic's blood sugar is not regulated and controlled, consequences can be dangerous or sometimes even deadly. Here are 8 ways you can take control of diabetes, or even keep the disease at bay, using simple lifestyle changes that have serious long term benefits. From including more exercise in your day to day life, to simple changes in eating habits like cutting down on sugar, find out what changes can lead to a healthier you, and give you control over diabetes.

Exercise Often

Exercise is a wonderful way to keep blood sugar under control. Regular exercise forces blood through the body and your body to use blood sugar for energy, helping to control the amount of sugar in your blood. Exercise also decreases stress and anxiety that can lead to high blood sugar, burn calories and fat, and increases levels of good cholesterol while reducing bad cholesterol.

Regular exercise can help individuals with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Because Type 2 diabetes can be successfully prevented and treated by practicing strong diet and exercise habits, exercise can help suffering individuals by breaking down body fat and promoting weight loss. Although Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, there are a number of ways exercise can control blood sugar.

If you're considering using exercise to regulate your blood sugar, there are a few things to keep in mind. Follow these exercise tips to safety use exercise to keep your diabetes in check.

Check Your Blood Sugar

Although exercising can be great for keeping blood sugar in check, it can only do so if you're working out at the right blood sugar level. An important part of safety exercising with diabetes is ensuring you are only exercising when your blood sugar is at a safe level. Check your blood sugar before and after exercising.

Before you begin your work out, check for low blood sugar. Exercising on low blood sugar could lead to a variety of health problems, such as dehydration, light headedness, or fainting. To avoid any of these instances, refrain from working out while blood sugar is low.

It is also important to check your blood sugar after your work out to ensure you haven't worked off too much sugar through your exercise. Pay attention to how you feel.

Wear the Correct Shoes

Wearing the correct shoes is important for any individual during their workout, but might be even more so for diabetics because nerve damage can be common. As chance of nerve damage increases with age, this applies especially to older diabetic patients.

To prevent nerve damage from hurting your feet, wear shoes that accommodate the exercise. If you are running shoes or doing any other style of cardio, wear running shoes that will support you throughout the entire workout.

While this may require purchasing a few pairs of workout shoes, your health is well worth it and you'll be thankful to avoid the pain associated with nerve damage.

Always Keep Sugar With You

Keeping some form of sugar with you is a necessity for most diabetics, but especially so if you are planning on working out or exercising.

Because exercises pushes your body to begin processing blood sugar into energy, it is possible that you could process through too much sugar. As a diabetic, your body does not regulate blood sugar on its own, and you may need the to raise your blood sugar yourself.

Keeping a sugary product on hand, including hard candy or a glucose tablet, will make it easy to raise your blood sugar could it get too low. Keep the sugar in an easy to find place in case you need assistance.

Drink Plenty of Water

Anyone exercising needs to drink plenty of water and diabetics are no different. Keep a bottle of water on hand throughout your entire workout and be sure to take sips the entire time you are exercising.

As a diabetic, maintaining stress levels is important. Exercising without adequate water will not only lead to dehydration but also increase your body's stress and increased stress can throw your blood sugar out of control.

Drinking plenty of water throughout your work out will keep you hydrated and decrease your body's stress. Also be sure to drink plenty of water before you begin your work out and after you have finished.

Follow a Routine

Following a routine can help reduce your risk of hyperglycemia and therefore, better keep your blood sugar levels in check.

If you are able, take your medicine at the same time every day and be sure it isn't too close to your exercise time. Exercising when your diabetes is at its peak is also not advised because it could cause your blood sugar to drop rapidly.

Also try to exercise and eat your meals at the same time every day. When your body falls into a routine, it can better adjust blood sugar levels and will recognize where sugar highs and lows should be throughout the day.

Beware of Insulin Shots

If you take insulin shots you will need to be aware of where you inject them and what body parts you plan on exercising that day.

If you are going for a run, avoid shooting the insulin into your legs. Instead, inject in your stomach or arms. If you begin working out the muscles in which you injected your insulin, the insulin will be pushed throughout your body more quickly. This fast distribution of insulin could cause your blood sugar to drop rapidly.

Taking insulin shots should not keep you from exercising or being physically active, but you will need to be careful and pay attention to where you are injecting the insulin compared to your workout for that day.

Inform your Doctor and Trainer

While exercise can be one of the best things to keeping your diabetes in check, it can also be dangerous if you are not working out correctly. Let your doctor know before you begin a workout regimen. For some diabetics, especially those with Type 1 diabetes, they experience more drastic drops in blood sugar. If this could be a potential problem for you, it is important to know before hand.

If you have a trainer or work out friend, you will also want to let them know that you are diabetic. Having someone with you while working out is great insurance that someone is there to help if something were to go wrong or your blood sugar drops too quickly.

Be sure to let someone around you, like your friend or trainer, know you have a sugar stash on hand if you need it. Also be sure to let them know how to handle any situation that may arise.