Exercise and Insulin Sensitivity

Since it's the summer solstice, I decided to make the most of the early morning sunrise. I woke at 5.20 and set off for the Tralee-Fenit greenway about a half an hour later. My blood sugar was reading 11.6 and with only long-acting insulin in my system there was little chance of a hypo. I took a snack of a packet of gluten free crackers with me. I sat on one of the benches at the beach and scoffed the whole packet. Normally if I'm not sure how much insulin to take to cover a food item I allow one unit of insulin for 8g of carbohydrates. But I took 2 units less to allow for the cycle back and the fact that I was going straight to work instead of home. 

I wasn't too busy at work but kept going using a lawnmower. About half an hour before break I felt low. I took a couple of glucose tablets before even testing because I needed to find a place to sit down. My sensor said "lo" which meant there was too little glucose in the interstitial fluid to get a reading from. I told my colleagues I was low and needed to sit down. A couple of minutes later a finger sample for my glucometer read 2.8 so, thankfully, I wasn't as low as I thought. I took a bottle of glucojuice while sitting down. As soon as I was within range again my sensor showed my sugar was rising rapidly and measuring 6.6. So I took 5 units of insulin instead of the normal 4 because I was about to eat on my break and thought I'd go too high if I took 4. 

After break I was using the lawnmower again. I felt low less than an hour after eating. Both sensor and glucometer read approximately 2.8. I only had 2 glucose tablets left, which I took, and no food to keep me up. I got back up to 4.4 and asked my supervisor to let me go away early as I had nothing to help me recover if I went low again. He understood and I left early.

So it seems exercise first thing in the morning before eating could mean I require less insulin throughout the day. The cycle to Fenit took about 45 minutes and the return took less because I wasn't going all the way home. I won't be doing that every day. It was just a once off for the solstice. But perhaps I should get up earlier in the morning and do some form of exercise before work to elevate the heart rate and get the blood circulation going. Maybe it'll be easier to stay in range with less insulin if I do. 

It's always surprising to me, the difference between insulin required for normal day to day routine and how much less is needed when I'm more active. It caught me out today. It turned out to be way less than what I thought. 

Sunny Averages

I just wanted to do a quick post. This is the first time in a long time, certainly this year anyway, that my averages have been all green. It must be connected to the sunny weather because it's only been less than a week since I've increased my long acting insulin to 14 units to stop myself from trending higher in the morning than when testing before taking long acting.