Without a doubt, insulin injections are primarily responsible for keeping my blood sugar levels in range.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t also consider how movement factors into the equation.
Yup, gettin’ steppin’ is key in helping me maintain tighter control over my blood sugars. If my levels start spiking after a meal or a snack – and I didn’t pre-bolus my insulin – then I start walking for as little as 15 minutes as a surefire means of getting my number back down. If I need to get up during my workday for a quick stretch and blood sugar level-set, I start stepping. If my blood sugar is higher than I’d like it to be before I go to sleep at night, then you guessed it: I get those steps in, whether it’s just marching in place or literally doing laps around my tiny condo.
I don’t always get 80,000+ steps per week, but when I do, it’s a terrific feeling!
All this movement not only means that I hit my daily step goal of 10,000 steps, but it has also obviously proven successful in helping me deal with high blood sugars (the kinda, sorta high ones and the really, super-duper high ones). In the case of the latter, I’ve found that coupling a dose of insulin with 10-20 minutes of movement is really effective in bringing me back within range in about 45 minutes, whereas I might have to wait an hour or more if I rely on the insulin alone. That shows how powerful – and so stinkin’ simple – it is to get those 10,000 steps in on a given day.
The added bonus? It feels good to get all that movement in a day, especially considering I spend 40+ hours a week sitting at a desk for my job. My body, my mind, and my diabetes benefit so greatly from it, and it’s been part of my routine for so long that I know that I can consider my 10,000 steps a day a permanent part of my diabetes management toolkit.
My diabetes has never liked it very much when I’ve stayed idle for too long.
Unfortunately, my diabetes and I don’t really have much of a choice these days other than to stay put – and I know that just about everyone else in the world is in the same boat.
So how do you hit your daily step goals when you can’t leave the house?
You get creative.
With a little creativity, you can find tons of ways to stay active when you’re stuck at home – which will make your blood sugar and body happy.
And, in turn, your blood sugars will generally respond positively to any extra movement you get throughout the day…plus, with endorphins spiking (instead of bg levels), you can see a huge improvement in your mood. And who doesn’t need a mood booster right now?!
Here are the ways in which I’ve been getting 10,000 steps or more each day:
Taking spontaneous dance breaks. My mom and I are both working from home and sitting in front of our computers for long stretches of time Monday through Friday. To combat this, we’ve come up with a ridiculous but fun game called “DJ Dance Party”. It’s simple: Every couple of hours, one of us cues up music and we just dance around for the duration of the song. DJ Dance Party is a welcome reprieve from work, especially when it happens right after long conference calls!
Playing with pets. Our animals can get just as stir-crazy as we can, so by helping them combat boredom, we’re also doing ourselves a favor by getting off our butts. I play with my parents’ dog, Clarence, by chasing him around the house, throwing his toys at him, taking him for neighborhood walks, and kicking the soccer ball around in the backyard (weather permitting).
Dust off those old fitness videos. Do you have old Jane Fonda/Windsor Pilates/Jazzercise tapes or DVDs just laying around, untouched for years? Dig ’em out from wherever you’ve got them and give them a spin. It might feel silly, but then again you might also get a good laugh in addition to some exercise. I’ve done a few Zumba routines in the last couple of weeks because we have some old DVDs, and they’ve been surprisingly fun.
Hit up YouTube and other fitness platforms for free workouts. Personally, I pay for a subscription to Beachbody, which gives me access to countless workouts lead by professional personal trainers. I’ve used Beachbody workouts in lieu of going to the gym for about a year now and it has worked really well for me, but if I didn’t have the service, I know I could rely on YouTube – in fact, one search of the word “workout” on that platform brought up tons of results that vary in length and intensity. It’s a treasure trove!
Pace around when on conference calls. When I’m not attending a virtual meeting with a video chat component, I’m constantly walking around while I talk on the phone. And it honestly helps me become a more active participant in meetings, sometimes, because I don’t have the distraction of my computer monitors in front of me. I imagine this is the closest I’ll get to having a fancy-schmancy treadmill desk, but I don’t knock it because it works!
March in place while watching TV. Binge on all the TV shows and movies you want guilt-free and challenge yourself by marching in place in 15-minute intervals or at every commercial break. Steps rack up quickly this way, and it’s a go-to for me when I can’t get a walk in during the day.
So even though I’ve barely left the house, doing one, two, or a combination of these above exercises have guaranteed that I’ll meet my step goal each day. And they’ve also really come in handy after meals and long stretches of sitting, when my blood sugars are most prone to going up.
Staying at home has disrupted routines for most people, but it’s good to know that we can still control how much exercise we get in a day.
Hugging the Cactus 