Exercise management for insulin
pump therapy
Children and young adults should be
accumulating 60 minutes of moderate/vigorous exercise per day. Sedentary
behaviour should be minimised every day to no more than 2 hours.
Exercise usually has an effect on
your insulin needs. Everyone is individual and your response to exercise can
only be determined by checking BGLs.
REMEMBER: You should never exercise
if you have positive ketones.
Generally exercise lowers blood
glucose levels both during and after the activity (although sometimes
interval-style exercise can elevate BGLs in the short term).
Do I need more food or less insulin? – You
may need both.
Hypoglycaemia can occur for many hours after sustained
exercise, so checking blood glucose levels later in the evening and overnight
is important.
Try:
- Eating 15 grams CHO with no bolus (“activity
carbohydrate”) or
- Sip on a measured amount of sweet fluid during
sport e.g. 250ml Sports Drink or 100ml Juice
- Setting a reduced temp basal rate (consider the
timing of when to set this reduced rate) or
- A combination of the above
Other tips you can try:
- If hypoglycaemia is occurring in the hours after
exercise, try a protein and carbohydrate rich meal 1-2 hours after finishing
your exercise e.g. pasta with meat/protein sauce,
- Shorts running sprints added to exercises such
as walking, running, cycling can potentially reduce hypoglycaemia
following exercise
General guidelines:
- Check BGL before, during and after
activity to see the effect
- If using temp rates, try 20%
reduction 2 hours prior to activity. If required, you may also continue this
after exercise
- High intensity exercise can affect
BGLs for many hours afterwards
- Disconnect the pump for contact and
water sports
- The pump can remain disconnected
for maximum 90 minutes
After 90 minutes
you must reconnect the pump and get a bolus of insulin. Either:
o Manual
bolus 1 hour of basal insulin or
o Bolus
for and eat ~ 15grams CHO
Do not correct high
BGLs until 1 hour after finishing exercise