You don’t have to run a whole marathon, but a little exercise is important. It’s not just fun, it’s also good for your body. It stimulates your circulation, lowers the body fat count in your body, and improves your blood sugar levels. Also, if you have diabetes, when you exercise, your body uses more sugar than usual, causing your blood sugar level to drop. Therefore, it’s important for you to know how to avoid a hypo.

Avoiding a hypo…

Before exercising, you need to eat more carbohydrates and to adjust your insulin (you mostly need less insulin). The adjustment will depend on your blood sugar level, which needs to be measured beforehand. Make sure you have some sugar with you if you go play football if you go dancing if you’re going on a long bike ride if you’re going swimming or playing tennis for example. It’s best to eat a little something extra before you start, but it can also be during or just after you exercise. Fruit, bread, and other slow burning carbohydrates work better than sweet lemonade, which will go into your blood more quickly.
In summary: eat a little more, in general inject a little less, and keep a close watch on your blood sugar level. Your blood sugar can lower even hours after your exercise, so keep it in check.

… or a hyper.

If you exercise with a high blood sugar level, there’s a chance that exercise will cause your blood sugar level to rise. Instead of a hypo, you’ll then have a hyper. So, make sure to not do any strenuous activities if your blood sugar level is already high.

Test your limits

If you’re athletic, it can be good to know the limits of your diabetes. Feel out your boundaries, and figure out what happens when you’re too high or too low. Figure out how your body reacts to exertion. Understanding your limits is important, but do it in a safe way.
If like Dirk van de Plas, you’re planning extreme exertion – like running a marathon or other strenuous activities – it is wise to do so under medical supervision.

Fitkids

Have you not exercised for a while, do you feel insecure, or don’t know where to turn to? Then maybe Fitkids could be for you. At Fitkids you can exercise under medical supervision at different places in the Netherlands, and it’s not a medical institute – it’s a sports centre like any other.