Blood sugar worries discourage many Type 1 diabetics from exercising

Fear of a having a low blood sugar crash dissuades many people with Type 1 diabetes from getting the exercise they need, a new study finds.

However, people were more likely to engage in exercise if their doctor discussed how to manage their diabetes while working out, researchers reported Thursday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Madrid.

"In order to break down the barriers to physical activity and empower our patients to exercise safely and effectively, we need to improve the education we provide and our dialogue about exercise in clinics," said lead researcher Catriona Farrell , a clinical senior lecturer in diabetes with the University of Dundee in Scotland. "In turn, this should help them to achieve the multitude of health benefits that exercise offers."

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the pancreas, severely damaging or destroying its ability to make insulin. As a result, people must constantly monitor their blood sugar levels and take insulin daily.

People with Type 1 diabetes can receive a multitude of health benefits from regular exercise, Farrell said.

"Regular exercise can help individuals with diabetes to achieve their blood glucose goals, improve their body composition and fitness, as well as reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes, which is higher in people with Type 1 diabetes," Farrell said in a meeting news release.

"Yet many people living with Type 1 diabetes do not maintain a healthy body weight or manage to do the recommended amount of physical activity each week," Farrell added.

For this study, researchers surveyed 463 men and women with Type 1 diabetes, asking them about 13 factors that would keep them from exercising regularly over the next six months.

These factors included loss of control over diabetes, the risk of hypoglycemia, the fear of being tired, concerns over getting hurt, a low fitness level and a lack of support from friends or family.

Results showed that worry over a blood sugar crash was indeed a major reason some diabetics shun exercise.

However, people were less fearful of hypoglycemia if they understood the importance of adjusting insulin dose and carbohydrate intake before and after exercise, researchers found. Both those strategies can prevent a blood sugar crash caused by physical activity.

People also felt better about exercise if they talked about it with a health professional in a diabetes clinic, results show.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about Type 1 diabetes .

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