exercising when you sugars high?

[MollyM15]

Are you suppose to excersice when your blood sugars high?? I have had so many tell me Yes or No....Which one is it?!?!?!?!?!

I always thought it was ok...

[BlueSky]

Exercising is only a problem if you are not getting enough insulin. So if your pump is not delivering for some reason, and your blood sugar is high, don't exercise. It could cause lots of ketones to be produced, which is not good. If, on the other hand, the pump is working fine but you ate something that bumped up your blood sugar, exercising is fine. ;)

[owlyn]

Well, you're not supposed to, and I usually use it as an excuse not to, but I have done it (after taking 1/2 the insulin I would normally take), and it all works properly.

[MarcS]

I know for me its always made it worse. The few times I have pigged out, hit like 200 bg or higher it only makes it worse. If I am 170 or lower I have seen my BG drop by as much as 50 or more even with just 15 minutes of exercise.

[REDLAN]

the general answer seems to be if your BG is over 13mmol (230), then you shouldn't exercise.

As Bluesky has stated. If your BG is high then you don't have enough insulin, and there is a risk that you may start producing ketones. Ketones acidify the blood, and if you exercise which dehydrates you, then you can make this effect worse.

However....

I find that I can exercise if I'm high. As long as there isn't another reason for the high BG (illness for instance), then I will administer a correction - I aim to correct to 8 mmol (145) rather than 5 mmol (90) which is my usual. Your muscles still need insulin to be able to utilise that spare glucose.

I also make sure that the exercise is firmly aerobic until my BG is back to normal levels. - no intense anaerobic activity - weight lifting, sprinting, hard hill climbing etc as these can cause BGs to soar. If you are on a machine then you need to keep your heart rate below 65% MHR.

For me from testing and experimenting 15mmol (270) is the highest BG that I can safely exercise with. But I always correct, and always start off gentle.

[Tashia]

I've personally exercised when my BG was well over 250, I get huge drops in my BG after exercising for even just 10 minutes. But maybe it's different for everyone?