Fitness | blooD GlucoSe manaGement
ExerciseExplained
What to know to get the most benefit from working out
WHETHER YOU’RE A REGULAR gym rat or taking your first baby steps on the treadmill, managing both your exercise regimen and your blood glucose levels can be tricky. Of course, you know that exercise is a great way to keep yourself healthy—but how do you know if you’re too high or low to work out? When is the best time to work out? And why do you sometimes get those pesky high blood glucose levels post-workout? Michael C. Riddell, PhD, is an exercise physiologist and associate professor in the Muscle Health Research Center at the York University School of Kinesiology and Health Science
in Toronto. He has extensively researched the role of exercise in managing type 1 and type
2 diabetes, and he says the biggest hurdle in balancing exercise and blood glucose levels is
motivation. Exercise is as important, he says, as diet and medication, and needs to be valued as
such. In a study published in the March issue of the journal Diabetologia, Riddell and his colleagues found that with exercise, people with diabetes were able to control their blood glucose
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