Abstract
Education on exercise and diabetes self-management is important to enable people with type 1 diabetes to exercise safely, and particularly to reduce the risk of exercise-induced hypoglycaemia.
Key Points
- Fear of hypoglycaemia and development of unstable blood glucose levels are some barriers to exercise in people with type 1 diabetes.
- Exercise can increase the risk of hypoglycaemia during the exercise session and also for up to 48 hours afterwards, including overnight hypoglycaemia.
- Glucose response to exercise varies with type, duration and intensity of exercise, as well as other factors such as circulating insulin levels, food intake (timing and composition) and exercise conditions.
- Glucose management strategies such as insulin dose reduction and carbohydrate consumption around exercise need to be tested, then individualised based on glucose trends.
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