For people with diabetes, healthy exercise is the best auxiliary method to maintain good health, lower blood sugar well, and maintain blood sugar stability. However, many people with diabetes still don’t know much about how to exercise healthily and what matters they should pay attention to during exercise. Today I will explain it to you one by one.
How can people with diabetes exercise healthily?
Exercise methods: Aerobic exercise should be chosen based on personal fitness and daily exercise habits, such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, skipping, etc.
Frequency and duration of exercise: A total of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, 5 times per week, and the duration of each exercise is no less than 30 minutes.
Exercise intensity: Maintain pulse rate (beats/minute) = 170 – age during exercise, or feel that you can breathe slightly during exercise but still have a normal conversation with your companions.
Timing of exercise: It is recommended to exercise within 1 to 3 hours after a meal. Exercise is not recommended on an empty stomach, or during periods of midday sun exposure, cold mornings, when dense fog has not cleared, or when insulin injections and/or oral hypoglycemic drugs are maximally effective.
What should people with diabetes pay attention to when exercising?
Conditions not suitable for exercise:
*Blood sugar is unstable or poorly controlled (plasma glucose level ≥15 mmol/L);
*Severely ill patients before taking medicine or injecting insulin;
*If you have serious complications of diabetes: fundus lesions, kidney disease, diabetic foot, etc.; if you have serious complications such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, etc., if you want to exercise, you must do an exercise test and do it under the guidance of a doctor.
Prevent hypoglycemia during and after exercise:
*When possible, measure blood sugar before and after exercise;
*Do not exercise on an empty stomach or immediately after a full meal;
*For patients who inject insulin, the injection site of insulin during meals should be in the abdomen before exercise and avoid injecting in the thighs and upper arms, which may increase the risk of hypoglycemia;
*Avoid strenuous exercise at dusk and night;
*Take cookies, candies or sugary drinks with you;
* Carry the patient’s name, age, address, phone number, and a small card marked as a diabetic patient with you so that you can get timely help from others in the event of an accident.
Pay attention to protect your lower limbs when exercising:
*Choose suitable shoes and soft cotton socks;
*Be careful to check your feet when washing your feet to prevent trauma.
Healthy exercise contributes to the physical and mental health of people with diabetes, helps maintain stable blood sugar, and allows people with diabetes to live a healthy and happy life!
