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Running with diabetes: Safety tips for a healthy workout
Stay safe while running with diabetes by eating the right foods before and after your run and checking your blood sugar at proper intervals.
For people living with diabetes, regular exercise is a key component of effective disease management. While any type of exercise can benefit people who are living with diabetes, running can be especially helpful, as it's convenient, free, and can be done anywhere. If you're considering getting started with running to help manage your diabetes, or you're a runner newly diagnosed with the condition, it's important to understand the special considerations necessary to stay safe while running with diabetes. In this article, we'll explore how running can benefit people living with diabetes, key nutrition strategies to help people with diabetes stay safe while running, proper foot care for diabetes before, during, and after exercise, and safety tips to help you stay safe while you're running.
Why is running good for diabetics?
The health benefits of running can be especially helpful for people who are living with diabetes. Aerobic activity—like running, biking, and swimming—requires your muscles to use glucose for energy. This can help lower your blood sugar levels. Over time, running can also improve the way your body responds to insulin. This may mean that regular exercise could help reduce your need for insulin, as your body could eventually need less of it to manage your blood sugar.
Some of the diabetes-specific benefits of running include:
- Improved insulin sensitivity: Over time, exercise helps your body become more efficient at absorbing and using insulin.
- Weight management: Running burns calories and supports a healthy metabolism, which can support healthy weight loss or maintenance, which can contribute to the reduction of diabetes symptoms.
- Heart health: Running can help to lower the likelihood of heart disease related to diabetes.
- Mental well-being: Many people who have chronic illnesses, like diabetes, experience anxiety and depression. Running can help reduce the symptoms of mental health conditions, and can help to lower instances of stress-related behaviors that aren't conducive to overall wellness (like emotional eating).
How to eat before and after your run
Understanding pre- and post-workout nutrition for diabetics is key to helping you stay safe before, during, and after your run. What you choose to eat can directly affect your energy levels, recovery, and blood sugar balance. While the guidelines here are applicable to most people who have diabetes and are starting a running program, it's important to talk with your doctor about the best way for you to manage your nutrition before, during, and after exercise.
Before your run
Enjoying a slow-digesting carb 30 to 60 minutes before the start of your run can help you maintain stable blood sugar levels while you're exercising.
Healthy pre-run snack options include:
- Unsweetened Greek yogurt with berries
- Whole grain toast with nut butter
- Egg whites with a side of fruit
These foods release glucose into the bloodstream gradually and can help you avoid sharp increases or decreases in blood sugar over the course of your run. Small snacks will typically provide you with plenty of fuel for a short run, but you may need a more substantial meal a few hours before the start of your run if you're completing a more intense workout.
After your run
The body is most sensitive to insulin absorption after exercise, meaning it can absorb glucose and glycogen stores more efficiently. This is a great time to refuel with a meal that includes both carbohydrates and protein to support muscle recovery and blood sugar balance.
A good rule of thumb to follow is a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein after a workout.
Examples of effective post-run meals include:
- Brown rice with tofu and stir-fried greens
- A sandwich with turkey and hummus on whole grain bread
- Grilled chicken with sweet potatoes and a side of veggies
If your blood sugar is low after your run, include a fast-acting carb like fruit juice to bring it up before eating a full meal.
Protecting your feet
Foot care is vital for people with diabetes, especially when engaging in high-impact activities like running. Diabetes can lead to poor circulation and nerve damage, increasing the risk of foot injuries and infections.
Follow these tips to take care of your feet as a diabetic runner:
- Choose the right shoes. Invest in well-cushioned, supportive running shoes with a wide toe box. Consider visiting a specialty running store for a fitting.
- Check your feet daily. Look for blisters, cuts, redness, or signs of infection, especially after a run.
- Wear moisture-wicking socks. Moisture-wicking socks can help to keep your feet dry and reduce the risk of blisters and fungal infections. Compression socks may also be helpful—ask your doctor if they're a good fit for you during exercise.
How often you should check blood sugar
Monitoring your blood sugar before, during, and after exercise can help you stay safe while working out. Everyone's blood sugar response to exercise is different, so it's important to understand your body's patterns.
Before your run
Check your blood sugar 15 to 30 minutes before your run. If it's below 100 mg/DL, you may need a small snack. If it's above 250 mg/DL with ketones present, wait until it lowers to exercise.
During your run
If your run is less than an hour long, you probably won't need to check your blood sugar levels. If you're running for more than an hour, check your blood sugar halfway through your run.
After your run
Check your blood sugar immediately after your run, and again a few hours later.
Paying attention to patterns in your blood sugar readings before, during, and after exercise can help you refine your routine so that you can feel your best during exercise.
Warning signs to stop running
While running has many benefits, it's important to listen to your body and recognize when you need a break. If you notice dizziness, lightheadedness, sudden fatigue or weakness, shakiness, excessive sweating unrelated to your activity level, numbness in the hands or feet, blurred vision, or nausea, it's important to stop, check your blood sugar, and take action if necessary.
It's also important to give your body time to recover between runs. Enjoying lighter workouts like yoga, Pilates, or walking on your off-days can give your body the time it needs to prepare for your next run.
Health is a lifelong journey, and we'll be here with you every step of the way.
At Evidation, our team is here to help you hit your health goals, one after another. Whether you're just getting started on your health journey or you've been working to become your healthiest self for years, we're here to support you and celebrate you as you check health achievements off of your to-do list.
When you download the Evidation app, you'll be prompted to share the health information you're already tracking (for example, data from nutrition tracking apps, wearable fitness tracker data, etc.). You're fully in control of what data you choose to share, and you can choose to stop sharing your data at any time. We'll use the information you choose to share with our team to find patterns and trends that you may not notice when your information is separated. We'll use the patterns we find to choose personalized, content-based information for you that can help you continue to drive your health forward. Click here to learn more about the Evidation app and get started today.
Can sleep patterns tell us the severity of our anxiety or depression?
Depression and anxiety can have a huge impact on our daily lives and overall health. It can affect our mood, social interactions, sleep and more, but can our daily behaviors predict the severity of our anxiety and depression? Our research team sought to find out more.
We know that anxiety and depression affect many of you, with 7 out of 10 adults in the U.S. saying they experience stress or anxiety daily. Depression and anxiety can have a huge impact on our daily lives and overall health. It can affect our mood, social interactions, sleep and more, but can our daily behaviors predict the severity of our anxiety and depression? Our research team sought to find out more.
What we tested
We enrolled over 1,000 participants in a clinical study with self-reported anxiety and depression and assessed the participants’ mental health states by looking at the following for each individual:
- Anxiety and depression symptoms
- Number of hospitalizations and ER visits for anxiety/depression
- Use of anxiety and depression medications
We then looked at participants’ sleep metrics and patterns for the previous three months.
What we learned
Severe depression was significantly associated with inconsistent and disordered sleep patterns, such as spending a great amount of time in bed awake. Individuals taking medications for their anxiety and/or depression were likely to sleep more compared to those not receiving treatment, however, they also had inconsistent sleep patterns. Participants who had been previously hospitalized for anxiety and/or depression were more likely to have inconsistent sleep patterns as well.
What does this mean?
We all know that a lack of sleep can affect our daily lives, but it can also be associated with severe depression and anxiety. This means that certain sleep patterns might be able to predict the severity of an individual’s mental well-being in the future. With further research we’d like to understand if tracking sleep behavior could predict changes in the severity of an individual’s mental health condition.
Thanks to all of our members who participated in this research about how daily behaviors, like sleep, can tell help researchers to better understand anxiety and depression. If you’re interested in contributing to innovative research, we are regularly running new studies at Evidation.
3 Reasons Why Tracking Your Health Can Help You Participate in Better Health Outcomes
Here are the top three reasons why tracking your health with Evidation will help you be part of something just a little bit bigger than yourself this holiday season.
According to 2015 Pew Research, “one in three cell phone owners have used their phone to look for health information.” Four years ago, we started Evidation to help everyone understand their personal health, take control of their health journey, and help contribute to improving the health of everyone. Here are the top three reasons why tracking your health with Evidation will help you be part of something just a little bit bigger than yourself this holiday season.
1. Actively participate in your health
With the over 30+ apps that you can connect to Evidation, we’re able to look at patterns of activity levels and do a deep dive into tracking health and wellness. We’ve published research around how your social engagements can impact activity levels. Lastly, we’ve given our community a chance to learn from each other, asking communities of individuals what questions they have for one another and sharing back the results.
2. Learn about health and research through insights
With a community of over a million, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to highlight and share relevant research tailored to you. We’ve also done deep dives on seasonal trends over the last year, including a step analysis around the Pokemon Go phenomenon, the difference between men and women during Back to School, and a look across the United States at Halloween calorie count.
3. Participate in ground-breaking research to advance the health of everyone
We’re focused on building a product that makes your interactions with health unified. We believe that health is much more than a visit to the doctor. It’s a constant effort every day of how to track/monitor healthy activities — whether it be steps taken, heart rate monitored, sleep tracked, or even meditation sessions executed. Sign up for Evidation today and starting taking health-related actions, including contributing to cutting-edge clinical studies that are tailored to your specific health conditions.
Dads vs. Moms: How does the transition from summer to fall impact activity levels?
The change in seasons often brings with it a change in routine. We wanted to know how the transition from summer to fall affects our health and wellness, and we’re excited to share these insights from members.
The change in seasons often brings with it a change in routine. So we wanted to know how the transition from summer to fall affects our health and wellness, and we’re excited to share these insights from Evidation Members.
The transition to fall can be especially cumbersome for parents as they juggle back to school duties, but is one parent more impacted than the other by the changing season? We decided to take a closer look at how moms and dads health holds up during the seasonal transition. We were also curious to explore how sleep and steps between parents and non-parents compared.
Who is catching more zzzs?
We uncovered a statistically significant gender disparity between moms and dads. Moms sleep 5 minutes less in the summer than their non-mom counterparts. As the school year ramps up in late August and early September, the difference is significantly more pronounced on weekdays. Moms sleep 10 minutes less than their non-mom counterparts. Dads, on the other hand, show no consistent differences from their counterparts in summer or fall. If anything, they may sleep slightly more.
Moms are also taking a bigger hit in sleep interruption than Dads. Moms sleep 0.34% less than non-moms and 1.4% less than dads. Surprisingly though, non-dads have the most sleep interruptions, spending 8.3% of the night awake.
What time is everyone falling asleep?
Moms fall asleep 12 minutes earlier than non-moms, while dads fall asleep 24 minutes earlier than non-dads. So, while dads don’t seem to be sleeping any less if they are a parent, they appear to be shifting their sleep schedules more. Interestingly, all four groups shift their bedtimes earlier in fall, possibly due to earlier sunsets.
Who is taking more steps?
Moms take fewer steps than non-moms in general. During the summer, moms take 427 fewer steps/day on weekends and 243 fewer steps/day on weekdays. However, when the school year starts, their weekends show an even larger deficit, at 543 fewer steps/day vs non-moms. Their weekdays step counts improve markedly, though, at just 85 fewer steps/day than non-moms.
Dads show the opposite pattern. They actually take more steps than non-dads. In the summer, they have an average of 250 steps/day more than non-dads, while in the fall, they have an average of 348 steps/day more than non-dads.