What you should know about exercise time

Exercise time is a very important factor that affects blood sugar control levels during exercise. Do you know when exactly you should exercise and how long it takes for exercise to lower blood sugar?

When can you exercise?

Diabetic patients should not exercise immediately after a full meal, nor when hungry. Do not exercise on an empty stomach. It is recommended to exercise after a meal. Timely exercise after meals can effectively improve the speed of blood sugar transfer to muscle tissue and the ability of muscles to absorb and utilize blood sugar. Blood sugar will significantly decrease as exercise progresses. Hyperglycemia and drift phenomena can be better controlled, and the effects of high blood sugar can be controlled. The harm caused is minimized.

When to start exercising after a meal varies from person to person

For patients with type 2 diabetes, they should start exercising 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or 90 minutes after a meal. Professor Chen Deming of Harbin Institute of Physical Education gave this suggestion: First, it is necessary to diagnose the degree of disease of patients with type 2 diabetes, and determine the fasting and meal times. Blood glucose levels 2 hours before and after meals; second, use a dynamic blood glucose monitor or automatic blood glucose monitor to measure the post-meal blood glucose peak curves of patients with type 2 diabetes, and determine the post-meal glucose levels based on the time when the peak appears in the blood glucose peak curve chart. When is the best time to start exercising? Because patients with type 2 diabetes have impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, insufficient insulin secretion, and reduced gastrointestinal food absorption, they may experience delayed peak blood sugar levels, significant increases in blood sugar peaks, and long-term drift of peak blood sugar after meals, which requires monitoring. Only then can you know the peak time of your blood sugar.

If it is to control the increase in blood sugar, the initial exercise time should be early after the meal when blood sugar rises and the peak value has not yet appeared, and the blood sugar should start within the time period corresponding to 7.8mmol/L ~ 11.1mmol/L; if In order to bring the blood sugar peak back down as soon as possible and avoid long-term high blood sugar drift, the initial exercise time can be started when the blood sugar peak occurs after a meal and is about to fall back down. When patients with type 2 diabetes start exercising after a meal should be determined based on the above two conditions and target requirements, and vary from person to person.

Exercise time should not be too long or too short

Type 2 diabetes patients should control the effective exercise time between 30 and 120 minutes each time during exercise therapy based on their disease severity and physical health. Since diabetic patients have different goals and objectives at different stages of treatment, the effective exercise time for treatment will vary. Necessary changes and adjustments can be made within this range. Unless the glucose metabolism regulation ability and blood glucose control level of patients with type 2 diabetes are close to the stable state of normal people, increasing the total exercise time can be considered.

Because if the exercise time is more than 2 hours, if there is no exogenous sugar supplement at this time, the glucose produced and output by gluconeogenesis will be difficult to meet the needs of the exercising muscles. In addition, patients with type 2 diabetes have a weak ability to regulate glucose metabolism, which may cause Hypoglycemia. After exercising for more than 3 hours, plasma glucose levels can be as low as 2.5 mmol/L, which is very dangerous for diabetic patients. Therefore, the total exercise time of patients with diabetes should be controlled and carbohydrate intake increased if necessary.

How to schedule exercise

Since patients with type 2 diabetes mostly engage in low- to medium-intensity exercise, based on the metabolic characteristics and rules of the human body’s energy system and blood sugar regulation during low-to-moderate intensity exercise, the minimum duration of an exercise session should be no less than 3 minutes; each group of exercise The minimum time of exercise should be no less than 10 to 15 minutes; the minimum time of daily exercise should be no less than 30 minutes, preferably 60 to 90 minutes, generally depending on the individual situation of type 2 diabetes patients; the weekly exercise time should be No less than 150 minutes, divided into no less than 3 exercises, preferably once every other day. If you exercise 5 days a week, there must be 1 to 2 days of adaptability and rest adjustment; the intermittent time during exercise should be controlled Between 1 and 3 minutes, the rest time between sets should be controlled at 3 to 5 minutes.

Exercise time has multiple meanings in exercise treatment plans. Sometimes excessive exercise is not conducive to lowering blood sugar. It is very helpful for diabetic patients to master these numbers related to exercise time during daily exercise to improve exercise effects.