How Do Athletes With Diabetes Deal With It?

Diabetes is complicated for athletes as much as it is for others. Even with regular diet and exercise, it can be problematic. It’s essential to take care of myriad things by making lifestyle changes to deal with the sugar blues. Knowing when and how to stabilize the blood sugar levels helps athletes perform better while staying healthy. Here is how they deal with diabetes before and after each gameplay.

Reasons why Diabetes is a Concern for Athletes

Athletes with diabetes have to check their glucose levels before and after training and also take insulin pumps as and when necessary. Sure there is nothing to worry about with all these things in mind, but will be days when the body cannot be active like usual.

Though athletes take all measures to stabilize insulin, insulin doses need to be reduced before exercising or training and also ensure it doesn’t shoot up. A minor change might lead to major consequences if left untreated.

Insulin Dosage for Diabetic Athletes

Before exercising, athletes do a quick check of their blood sugar levels and ensure it is between 90-250

mg/dL. If the levels are higher than this range, athletes train only once it drops to normal. It’s also normal to check the glucose levels during the exercise to ensure there are no fluctuations. Athletes make slight changes to their exercise if the levels are high or low while on it.

Can one Play Sports with Type 2 Diabetes?

Yes! One can play sports with Type 2 Diabetes. Each sport has a different impact on individuals with diabetes. While Type 2 diabetes is not as serious as Type 1, athletes do have to check their blood sugar levels.

Especially on game days, slight changes to the diet can help. Athletes try to stabilize the insulin in their body to ensure there are no low or high sugar occurrences. Some athletes do get their blood glucose levels checked during each timeout and keep aside glucose in emergencies depending on the sport.

If you’re an athlete with either of the two diabetes, maintaining a balanced diet and planning your medications can help you lead a normal life.

How does Sports Help Diabetes?

We all know how athletes spend most of their time training for their gameplay. While exercising is a must, it’s highly important to diabetic individuals. But it can have certain side effects.

The body releases more sugar to produce energy, and the insulin in diabetic individuals will be unable to use the sugar. Due to this, it causes hyperglycemia or high levels of blood sugar.

On the other hand, hypoglycemia is when the sugar levels are low. The body is unable to produce energy due to the depletion of insulin. To counterbalance, our body will try to burn fat when there is no enough insulin. But this causes an increase in the ketones and makes the person sick.

Sports do help diabetes, but it is essential to check the blood glucose levels to avoid major complications. It’s quite hard to keep tabs on the sugar levels as it’s a not-so-easy process.

But with the technological advancements, contour next one software lets you test your blood glucose levels instantly without going to a testing lab. What’s important is to track the sugar levels and do a trial and error method to see what works the best.

Athletes might need regular sugar pumps to regulate the glucose levels. It’s also crucial to know what to do during fluctuations to avoid major concerns.

Meal Plan for Diabetic Athletes

While there is no standard meal plan for diabetic athletes, including superfoods and avoiding white foods is key to leading a normal life. Learn more about the nutrition intake for athletes here.

How do Athletes Combat Blood Sugar Levels

Regular blood sugar level checks
Diet packed with proteins and veggies
Regular exercise
Avoiding extreme training sessions
Insulin adjustments as and when necessary

Types of Diabetes

Now that we’ve seen how athletes deal with diabetes, here is a quick look into the diabetes types. The most common symptoms are frequent hunger pangs, excessive thirst, muscle soreness, and others.

Type 1

Type 1 is a critical condition of diabetes where the patient has to rely on insulin every day to carry out regular activities. It’s permanent.

Type 2

Type 2 is a less severe diabetic condition controlled with regular exercise and a healthy diet. It can be reversed if taken care of well right from the initial stage.

Final Thoughts

Though diabetes is prevalent in individuals above 40 years, it can occur to anyone. Athletes with diabetes can compete and perform equally, given they regularly take care of their blood glucose levels. Since athletes exercise, train, and perform, it can be challenging to deal with initially due to low energy levels and constant fluctuations, but that doesn’t and shouldn’t stop one from reaching great heights.