Sugar Diabetus
A slice of society (typically, an old slice) refers to diabetes mellitus as "sugar diabe-tus." A strange pronunciation, but it caught on for the WWII crowd a la Wilford Brimley. Typically, these are the same people who call aphids "aphus."
At any rate, diabetes plays a big, but background, role in my life. I've had it for so long (20+ years), that I really seldom think of it. What makes me think of it during the day is if I experience hyper- or hypoglycemia. I can feel it when it's getting high, and I know when it's geting low.
My new workout scheme has caused, contrary to what you'd expect, high blood sugar. Here's the theory behind it.
Diabetes Details
Exercise is good for diabetes--it does the same thing as insulin. It causes the release of Glucose Transport Molecule 4, which allows glucose into the muscle, fat, and heart muscle cells. The problem is that you can't exercise 24 hours per day to keep stimulating the release of GLUT4, so insulin injections are needed.
Cardiovascular exercise is good, but it's limited on how long its metabolic effects last. Strength training has a longer period of recovery, meaning a longer ride, reducing insulin requirements.
The problem, or challenge, with a high intensity workout is regulating other naturally-occurring hormonal responses to physical stress. While normal strength training can be rigorous, it doesn't compare with extreme training, and that poses a problem for us Diabetic-Americans.
Under duress, the body stimulates fight-or-flight hormones, wherein the liver creates glucose
for expected increased glucose needs. The problem is that in diabetics, it puts much more than we can compensate for using background insulin. It therefore requires more injections of fast-acting insulins.
Cost Benefit Analysis
Even though it seems to cost more in the short-term, its benefits show up a few hours later and last for between 24 to 72, depending on the body parts exercised.
Humble (but experienced) Opinion
So here's the deal:
- Cardio is needed for that--cardiovascular health. Very important to everyone, but especially important for diabetics.
- Strength training is fantastic for blood glucose levels. Don't neglect it.
