Doing Sports with Diabetes

Exercising with diabetes comes with certain complications, but don’t let these complications prevent you from chasing your athletic goals.

I was always intimidated with doing sports because I thought that my diabetes would get in the way. But I forced myself to join anyway and actually found it quite doable. The second most important thing is to know what can happen and prepare for them. The most important thing to do is to make sure that the people like your coach or trainer, know your symptoms and check in with you regularly. Everyone has a different system, but this is what I have found works best for me:

Firstly, check if you have ketones. Ketones appear in your urine when your body has absolutely no insulin in your body. This usually is not an issue for Type 2 diabetics, but for Type 1 diabetic this can be a real issue. You can check if you have ketones by dipping your ketones in your urine before you go to practice. If it turns out that you do have ketones than you should remedy that immediately or else it can lead to life-threatening situations. When you have ketones it can be incredibly dangerous to exercise because it can increase blood sugar levels and increase the ketones in your system. If you are in a sport, let your coach know that you can’t exercise that day.

Secondly, check your blood sugar. I would say that starting your work out or practice a little higher than normal is safer because while you exercise, your blood sugar will go down. If you feel your blood sugar is too low, eat a snack before you work out. If your blood sugar is too high, you might feel exhausted. If this is the case, try not to do something too strenuous. Obviously, no one knows your body as well as you do so oftentimes it is up to your judgement on how to treat yourself. 

Finally, take breaks to check in with how you are feeling. This to me was something I never used to do. When I start working out, I don’t want to lose my momentum or stop to calm down. But from time to time, it is important to check in with your body to make sure nothing is wrong. When your running or lifting weights for a long time, it becomes hard to tell if your exhaustion/weakness is from a tough work out or a abnormal blood sugar level. Having a coach that regularly asks me is I am okay is something that really helped with this.

Something to note is that sometimes diabetes can be very unpredictable. Your blood sugar can fluctuate based on your eating habits, sleeping schedule, stress level, and even the time of the month (if you’re a girl). It can be hard as a student, but having a consistent lifestyle will help you control your blood sugar better. Eliminating this unpredictable factors can make it easier for you to work out safely and make you a more reliable teammate.